Georgian Parliament Speaker says foreign influence “global challenge” - Georgia’s laws address risks everyone recognises

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday emphasised that foreign influence and unregulated foreign money in politics represent a universal modern challenge, with no country or organisation ignoring its risks.

Speaking on the Imedi TV show Open Air - Debates, Papuashvili noted that the modern world allows for unprecedented levels of influence through information technologies and rapid communication.

“Foreign influence and foreign money require a careful approach, as well as transparency and regulation. Today we see that in the modern world there is a struggle to exert influence over the societies of various countries. Modern information technologies and the speed of information exchange provide many opportunities that were previously impossible”, he said.

The Speaker cited an example on Rustaveli Avenue, where foreign ministers appeared at a public rally, an act he described as politically audacious and logistically unimaginable in the past.

“On Rustaveli Avenue, foreign ministers directly appeared at a rally - something that was logistically unimaginable before, not to mention the political audacity involved. The fact is that foreign influence is a challenge today, and everyone is talking about it. There is no country or organisation that does not address the risks of foreign influence”, he noted.

He traced Georgia’s first major alarm regarding foreign influence to the 2020 elections, when he claimed that a local NGO and its foreign donor coordinated to manipulate results.

“Our first alarm came after the 2020 elections, when we saw for the first time that a local non-governmental organisation and its donor were acting in coordination to manipulate election results - I am referring to ISFED and USAID, both of which, as we know for certain, concealed the truth and presented false, parallel vote counts to the public”, he said.

Papuashvili stated that while NGOs and donors were initially given the opportunity to self-regulate and ensure transparency, they failed to do so.

“We gave NGOs and donors a chance to take responsibility for transparency themselves, which they did not do. This subsequently required non-legislative regulation. However, the new US administration exposed everything when President Trump, on his inauguration day, signed an order concerning the restriction of US foreign aid”, Papuashvili concluded.