Shalva Papuashvili: France had stricter legislation than ours and is now tightening it further

“France already maintained stricter legislation than ours. The law enacted there in 2024, following our own, specifically provides for criminal liability and up to five years’ imprisonment should an entity receiving foreign funding fail to disclose its finances,” Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told journalists.

According to Papuashvili, Georgia’s transparency law provides solely for financial fines and does not imply criminal liability.

Shalva Papuashvili explained that France has always maintained stricter legislation than Georgia and is now tightening it even further regarding disinformation.

“All of this is understandable; we fully share the concerns felt across various countries. That is genuinely the case today. External interference through disinformation, election interference, and cyberattacks represents one of the primary challenges to the resilience of democratic institutions. The point is that it matters not who interferes: there are no good or bad states when it comes to meddling in your internal affairs. The interference itself is wrong. Therefore, creating a distinction where Russian interference is deemed bad but German interference is labelled good demonstrates the inherent illogic of such an approach. Ultimately, we must all agree that our democratic institutions must be shielded from foreign influence and manipulation, and our society protected against disinformation, no matter where it comes from. The source is irrelevant; anyone who interferes acts wrongly by definition, which is why protection against it is necessary,” Shalva Papuashvili noted.

For context, a French Senate committee approved a bill against foreign interference six months ahead of the presidential elections.