In their statement, the undersigning Foreign Affairs Committees (FAC) chairs pointed out that although the parliamentary majority leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party had promised to withdraw the so-called law on foreign agents from deliberations last spring, they now recently announced the de facto reintroduction of the bill, now retitled "Transparency of Foreign Influence" – and despite the overwhelming protests of the Georgian people, according to a Riigikogu press release.

The FAC chairs expressed deep concern over the content of the new bill, which they described as being "Putin's Russia style."

"[This law is] designed to stigmatize and weaken Georgia's vibrant pro-European civil society and NGO sector, while it is widely known as Georgia's greatest asset and hope and has a reputation of being one of the most transparent in the world in terms of budget and funding," the chairs highlighted in their statement.

They noted that the reintroduction of this law severely undermines Georgia's hard-won European perspective and candidate status, as "creating and maintaining an enabling environment for civil society organizations and media freedom is at the core of democracy and crucial for the success of Georgia's European integration."

The introduction of this bill is a "hostile move toward the Georgian people's European aspirations and their future," the chairs stated.

They also recalled that Georgia was granted EU candidate status on the understanding that it would implement 12 steps outlined by the European Commission in order to advance toward opening EU accession talks, and noted that, to date, Georgia has only implemented three of these recommendations.

Urging the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the recent bill from parliamentary deliberations, the European FAC chairs expressed sincere hope that the Georgian government will once again demonstrate its maturity and determination to integrate into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions, guided by the values of Western liberal democracy.

"The future of the Georgian people is at stake," the committee chairs underscored.

Friday's joint statement was signed by the chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the national parliaments of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and the U.K.

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