The adoption of the law on Foreign Influence means a shift in the relations between EU and Georgia, Tobias Billström, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden, told reporters in his doorstep remarks at the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.

“It’s very worrying that the [Georgian] government is launching and continuing with the law aimed at curbing the activities of NGOs. This needs to be addressed by the EU. I think that that cannot be business as usual with Georgia. We need to talk with the government about this issue in a very firm way from the EU side. First of all, I’m very much looking forward to the discussions. We haven’t started yet, but the position of the Swedish government is very clear. The developments in Georgia are very worrying, and we will not want to see an adoption of the law aimed at NGOs, which are labelled foreign agents. That is unacceptable because it mirrors the same legislation that already exists in Russia. It’s actually a blueprint. That would be unacceptable if that law goes through.

That has to be a clear message sent from the EU, both from the Council and the Commission that this means a shift in the relations if that goes through, but we haven’t seen the discussions yet. I would like to hear them out first, and we want to see a clear message from the Commission also to Georgia and the Georgian government in this regard. We also have to remember that the majority of the Georgian people want to have a closer relationship with the EU. They are not in favour of this legislation, which the massive demonstrations on the streets of Tbilisi and other cities in Georgia clearly show. So we have to be on the side of the Georgian people, and this calls for a balanced approach from the EU,” Tobias Billström remarked.