Georgian Parliament Speaker warns of direct struggle for control of states

The rules-based international order has collapsed, and a direct struggle is underway for the “soul of the state” and control over governance, said on Monday Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili during a televised debate on Rustavi 2 TV channel.

Papuashvili noted that money and influence have become tools for exerting control over governments, and it is the responsibility of the state to protect itself and its people from foreign interference.

“The lack of transparency of foreign influence damages democratic processes. Foreign interference leads to polarisation, distortion of elections, and the questioning of democracy”, he said, citing excerpts from an assessment document of the EU Democracy Defence Act as well as a European Parliament resolution.

The Speaker stressed that the issue should not be viewed narrowly, but in a broader context. In his words, the legislation and the broader issue of transparency were not merely about accounting or NGO matters, but constituted a geopolitical issue, adding that the domestic transparency law, by its essence, had anticipated the geopolitical processes observed today.

Papuashvili reiterated that the collapse of the rules-based international order had resulted in a direct struggle for the soul and governance of the state, with money and influence serving as mechanisms to affect countries’ governance.

He underlined that it was the state’s responsibility to protect itself and its people from foreign influence in the current geopolitical environment.

“This package of laws is also a response to what had been taking place in Georgia over the years. Foreign diplomatic missions and organisations had been involved at various levels in governance processes”, Papuashvili added.

The Speaker further claimed that following the 2020 parliamentary elections, the domestic non-governmental organisation ISFED and its donors had coordinated actions and conspired against the elections by falsifying the results of the parallel vote tabulation.

“We saw in 2020 that the falsification of the parallel vote tabulation results was a signal that a network of groups had been created with foreign funding, loyal not to their own state but to their donors”, Papuashvili said.

He added that subsequent events demonstrated why there had been an intense effort to change the Government.

“In 2022, we directly saw how the same groups were brought out onto Rustaveli Avenue, calling for a rain of bombs and the opening of a ‘window of opportunity’. Then we saw June 2022, when the same organisations again brought people onto Rustaveli Avenue, this time demanding the presence of unelected individuals in the Government. Therefore, this is a global, not a local issue”, Papuashvili concluded.