“It will no longer be possible to brand a bill on the transparency of foreign influence using shady methods without delving into its content, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili told reporters.

According to Papuashvili, “Last year, the opposition managed to speak to the public through branding, stigmatization, and not go into content, but this year, they will have to enter into this discussion.”

According to the Speaker, the opposition did not look into the bill’s details last year but will have to engage in discussions this time. He mentioned that the bill would progress through three hearings in the usual timeframe.

“Let them come and say what they have against it. The organizations that participate in the formation of Georgian politics and are financed from abroad should tell who finances them and for what purposes,” Papuashvili said.

The Speaker believes that covert financing of political parties and radical groups increased in Georgia. He noted that donors promised that all finances would be transparent but did not keep the promise.

Papuashvili reminded Georgian people how the finances of the Droa party became known when the party leader uttered that the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) financed the party’s pre-election campaign through a fake NGO, adding that “speculation that everything is transparent is a lie.”

“There is a situation when foreign funds directly, rudely and secretly finance politics in Georgia. We also said in the statement that all this is in the context of Georgia facing security challenges,” he said and claimed that Georgian people did not know what “stood behind this and that organization.”

“During these conversations, no one denies that there are opaque funds, but we could not go further than that, and of course, this is a matter for the state and society,” the Speaker said.

The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party will resubmit a modified draft bill on transparency of foreign financing.

The draft law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” will have the same wording as last year, except for the term “agent of foreign influence,” which will be replaced with the term “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”