During his visit to Georgia, Gert Jan Koopman, the Director-General for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy at the European Commission, described the situation in the country as concerning. He stated that the transparency law, in its current form, is unacceptable and incompatible with European values.
According to him, the “foreign agents bill” is unacceptable in its current state and “creates a serious obstacle to integration into the EU.”
“We’ve been engaging with the government, including the president, prime minister, and opposition for two days. I want to say that the situation I encountered is worrying. Violence is observed on the streets of Tbilisi. We condemn this. The “foreign agents bill”, adopted in the second reading, is unacceptable in its current form and creates a serious obstacle to EU integration,” Koopman said.
Speaking to journalists, he also noted that progress on the nine integration steps into the EU is limited and expressed hope for relative stabilization in Georgia:
“On the other hand, progress on the nine steps is limited, which is also not good. However, there is still time. We will write recommendations in September and publish them in October-November. The ball is now in the government’s court – our door is always open. The Commission is here to work with candidate countries. I know that the Georgian people want to get closer to the EU, and I believe the government does too. I hope that the very complex situation we observed today will be resolved.”
Koopman also stated that the “Russian law” “poses a problem” on the path to EU accession. He said that substantive debates on the draft law are necessary due to its incompatibility with European values.
According to Koopman, the European Union has a transparency law, but it is completely different from the Russian law because “it is not intended to identify and target specific actors in society.”
“Now the Georgian government must take a step forward. I have clearly stated that this law is a problem on the path to EU integration. As far as I understand, it has been adopted in the second reading, with a third reading and possibly a presidential veto ahead. I believe the time we still have should be used to discuss the substance of the law. In its current form, it is clearly unacceptable and incompatible with European values.
Seeing such a large number of people on the streets is a sign of tension in society. Violence is always bad, so we are concerned. The EU has a transparency law. But it is not intended to identify specific subjects. In fact, the law does not define them as foreign interest agents if they receive foreign funding,” Koopman explained.
