EU Integration Committee Chair: Foreign funding undermined political processes, disconnected organizations from societal needs

“In recent years, Georgia faced a foreign funding problem in three dimensions,” stated Levan Makhashvili, Chairman of the European Integration Committee.

According to him, in all three directions, the country was detached from such issues as independence, objectivity, and making conclusions free from party ideology.

“In recent years, Georgia had a foreign funding problem in the sense that money was being spent on subverting political processes. The problem existed in three dimensions. A large portion of media organizations was funded from foreign sources. Political parties were receiving funding through direct or indirect schemes. Also, non-governmental organizations were receiving foreign funding. The problem was that we were detached from such issues as independence, objectivity, and making conclusions free from party ideology in all three directions. The problem was that these organizations were disconnected from local society’s needs and focused on topics that fit donors’ agendas,” stated Levan Makhashvili.

According to him, when foreign funding is used to pursue one’s own political agenda, it becomes a serious problem.

“It became apparent that USAID was spending tens of millions of lari on funding media organizations, NGOs, and political processes, much of which was completely non-transparent,” stated Levan Makhashvili.