MP Zviad Shalamberidze: Talks with Czech House Speaker focused on EU relations and foreign transparency legislation

“EU relations dominated discussions between a visiting Georgian parliamentary delegation and the Speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies, with Prague expressing keen interest in Georgia’s experience of passing transparency legislation,” ruling party MP Zviad Shalamberidze reported on Monday.

According to Shalamberidze, Czech MPs asked about Georgia’s foreign transparency law because the Czech Parliament is currently preparing its own version of the bill for next year.

“They were eager to learn how the legislative process unfolded in Georgia, so we shared our experience. The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament offered insights on how events developed and outlined the core considerations that prompted us to pass the law,” Shalamberidze stated.

The Georgian MP noted that Czech colleagues resonated with the political discourse surrounding foreign influence laws.

“The tactic of sticking a ‘Russian law’ label on legislation is not unfamiliar to them, as a similar dynamic plays out in the Czech Republic, where opposition parties attempt to brand contentious legislative proposals with the ‘Russian’ moniker,” Shalamberidze explained.

“We provided a full overview of Georgia–EU relations. In truth, none of this came as a surprise to them. They observed that it is characteristic of Brussels’ current policy to adopt such a patronising tone toward smaller nations outside the EU bloc,” he added.

The Georgian delegation, led by Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, visited Prague at the invitation of Tomio Okamura, Speaker of the Czech Chamber of Deputies.