Georgian Parliament Speaker: no money should be spent in Georgian politics without public will

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said the Government’s main objective was to ensure that no money was spent in Georgian politics without the consent of the Georgian people.

Papuashvili’s remarks came after Laura Thornton, the senior director for global democracy programs at the McCain Institute, said that there are ways to continue supporting civil society and independent media in the country.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Papuashvili noted that after hearing European Commissioner Marta Kos admit that EU officials are looking for ways to bypass Georgian legislation and deliver funds to organisations they support, Thornton’s recent comments serve as a second confirmation of what he described as “black schemes” of financing.

The Speaker further added that such schemes appear to be designed to provide funding while avoiding Georgian legal restrictions, claiming that recent statements from the EU Ambassador also indicate frustration that these “loopholes” are being closed.

“We said that our task and goal is to ensure that no money is spent in Georgia’s politics without the will of the Georgian people. Today, by the way, four British politicians repeated the same thing, but of course they did not say this about Georgia, they said it about themselves. In our country, on the contrary, they spend money differently”, he concluded.