British Embassy: “We are forced to cancel planned grants due to Georgia’s new 'Law on Grants'”
UK cancels grants in Georgia
The British Embassy in Georgia has issued a statement announcing that, due to the “Law on Grants” initiated by Georgian Dream, planned grant offers aimed at supporting transparency and competitiveness in the upcoming municipal elections have been cancelled.
According to the embassy, grant approval procedures remain incomplete as a result of the legislative changes — a fact that Georgian Dream has communicated to the embassy.
Embassy’s statement
“The United Kingdom has tried, in good faith, to seek approval for several grants to Georgian civil society for voter education and citizen electoral monitoring, which the Central Election Commission confirmed are valuable activities.
However, after discussion with the Georgian authorities, we have been told that the planned Government Decree establishing a procedure for grant approvals is not finalised , and therefore no mechanism or timeframe currently exists for grant approval decisions.
Due to this uncertainty, we have reluctantly had to cancel our grant plans to support the transparency and competitiveness of the upcoming municipal elections.
We regret that unlike the last municipal election in Georgia, the Government has not yet invited an OSCE / ODIHR monitoring mission, and is not facilitating grants for citizen election monitoring. The absence of professionally trained election monitors working to internationally accepted standards would represent a backwards step that could reduce public confidence in the transparency of the democratic process in Georgia.
The United Kingdom reaffirms its readiness for dialogue on how it can support Georgia’s democratic development and regrets this missed opportunity to promote objective, professional and transparent scrutiny of October’s municipal elections.”
In April 2024, the Georgian parliament passed a law in expedited procedure that prohibits the issuance of foreign grants without government approval. This means that if a fund or organisation — such as the EU or the UN — wishes to support a Georgian NGO, it must first obtain official permission from the government of Irakli Kobakhidze.
On 10 June, it was revealed that amendments are being made to the “Law on Grants” adopted by Georgian Dream on 15 April. The amendments extend the restrictions: from now on, obtaining technical or expert assistance, or engaging in knowledge exchange, will also require government approval.
The changes directly affect organisations working in the fields of human rights, anti-corruption, service provision, and government accountability. For many of these organisations, continuing their work will become virtually impossible.
Experts believe that the amendments to the Law on Grants are not an isolated initiative, but part of a coordinated trend — one that has already manifested in the foreign agents law and other repressive initiatives passed by Georgian Dream in 2024.
