Georgian President: when MEPs, foreign ambassadors pressure us not to discuss a piece of legislation, that is what anti-European attitude looks like

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili on Friday defended the domestic law on the transparency of foreign influence, arguing that similar legislation was being considered by many countries for reasons of national security, and criticised certain members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and foreign diplomats for pressuring Georgia not to debate the law, calling such actions “anti-European”.

In his remarks, Kavelashvili pushed back against what he described as “disinformation campaigns” labelling the law as “Russian” or “anti-European”.

“Today, many countries are already considering adopting a similar law based on their own national security interests. We have not changed our opinion or position regarding why we adopted this law, and I want to respond with facts - the disinformation about it being Russian, pro-Russian, and so on, continues but is fading away. It has become laughable. Our society deserves more - more explanation, not just the label of Russian”, he said.

The President also condemned the actions of certain MEPs and foreign ambassadors who, in his view, attempted to block discussion of the draft law within Georgia.

“When you aspire to join the European Union, you also have the right to ask questions. When some MEPs or ambassadors prevent you from even discussing a law, when they literally force you not to consider it, that is precisely an anti-European attitude. A law initiated by a member of parliament must first and foremost be subject to discussion, and if you don’t like something - a certain clause or article - you should raise concerns about that specific part, not reject the entire law outright. No one can call this law Russian or anti-European”, Kavelashvili concluded.