Georgian PM: harmful external interference practices shifted from US foundations to European institutions

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Wednesday said that practices previously carried out through American instruments such as USAID, NED, and other foundations were now being implemented via European institutions, calling the continuation of such methods unfortunate and harmful.

In his remarks, Kobakhidze emphasised that these practices had already been fully exposed, yet continued under a different guise.

“What the American instruments - USAID, NED, and other foundations - were used for in the past is now being done for the same purpose using European institutions. It is very unfortunate when this practice does not change, despite the fact that this harmful practice has been fully exposed”, he said.

The Prime Minister further noted that Georgia had long warned about informal forces exerting excessive influence over international political processes, first in the United States and now increasingly within the European Union.

“We have been talking for years about informal forces that exert significant influence over the European Union; in the past, their influence over the United States was even greater. We are now witnessing a kind of struggle within the United States itself, and we will see how it ultimately ends. However, the fact remains that what American instruments - USAID, NED, and other foundations - were used for in the past is now being done for the same purpose using European institutions. This is, of course, very unfortunate overall, when the practice does not change, even though this harmful practice has been fully laid bare”, he noted.

Kobakhidze stressed that the Georgian Government had taken concrete legislative steps to protect the country from such external interference.

“The most important thing for us is to counter this distorted practice and blatant interference in the internal affairs, domestic political issues, and democratic systems of various countries with our own mechanisms. We have adopted the Law on Transparency, which protects us precisely from such harmful practices. We have adopted the Law on Grants, the so-called FARA law, and, of course, we will fully defend our country’s sovereignty from this type of external interference”, he concluded.