The US State Department has expressed concern about the consequences for freedom of expression in Georgia if the proposed law on "foreign agents" is approved.
State Department representative Ned Price said this in a comment.
"We shared our reservations with the Georgian authorities. The proposed law isolates and silences the independent voices of Georgian citizens who seek a better future for their society. We believe that this law poses potential threats to Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration," commented Ned Price.
He also denies that the project borrowed ideas from American legislation.
"Claims that this bill is based on the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) are false... This bill appears to be based on similar Russian and Hungarian legislation," Ned Price said.
It will be recalled that the project "On transparency of foreign influence" was proposed by the "Power of the People" movement - a group of deputies who formally separated from the ruling "Georgian Dream", but remain with it as part of the parliamentary majority.
"People's Power" states that the draft law will affect the activities of non-governmental organizations and mass media with foreign funding. At the same time, the authors of the bill refer to American legislation and "best practices of democratic countries", without mentioning the "Law on Foreign Agents", which is in force in Russia.
"In order to ensure the transparency of foreign influence, a register of agents of foreign influence will be created, which will include all non-commercial legal entities and mass media, the income of which is financed by foreign states by more than 20%," the statement of the movement reads.
Separate registration of such organizations should take place in the National Agency of the State Register, the authors of the draft law suggest. A fine is proposed for evasion of registration.
The opposition stated that the "Power of the People" is trying to introduce the "Russian model" in Georgia, and the real purpose of the bill is to limit the work of mass media and NGOs that cooperate with Western funds.
