“We can say the ice has been broken. Somehow, the Council of Europe has acknowledged that external interference is a problem; this is not an artificially created issue prompted by individual political processes, but rather a real problem faced not only by Georgia but by many Council of Europe member states,” the Chairman of Parliament’s European Integration Committee, MP Levan Makhashvili, has stated.

According to him, every country, in various processes, faces the challenge of other nations directly interfering in their internal affairs through manipulation, disinformation, and other means. This is an established fact, confirmed by the Council of Europe’s decision.

“The Council of Europe has decided to investigate the state of affairs in this regard within the Council of Europe framework, and the aim is to offer these states specific mechanisms, possible solutions that, on the one hand, respect the constitutional order and, on the other hand, will be sound in terms of protecting human rights. It is precisely in this context that Georgia was also approached, and they are interested in our experience in this direction.

There is a long list, ranging from sabotage to election interference. We compiled and submitted our experience, legislation, steps and decisions. We sent Georgia’s experience in countering and combating foreign influence. Everything from the legislation, starting with the transparency law and ending with the latest bills. We sent the experience of how Georgia is fighting this specific problem. The rest is for the Council of Europe to decide, to see what will be the best experience for them, which other Council of Europe countries might also be able to use,” Levan Makhashvili stated.

According to him, when the Georgian Government was hearing criticism, they would not even acknowledge the problem; they would not say that such a problem existed.

“They would always tell us that you are fighting an empty storm and, in reality, you are driven by other motives. Now it has emerged that this is a real and systemic problem not only for Georgia. This issue will become increasingly severe and more grave for countries within the Council of Europe. This is also the decision of the Council of Europe’s experts to look at the problem more systematically, comprehensively and seriously by acknowledging it,” Levan Makhashvili stated.

The Council of Europe has requested member states, including Georgia, to share information on foreign information manipulation and interference. Furthermore, Georgia, as a member state of the organisation, has also received the letter containing this request.