Mamuka Mdinaradze, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the Parliament, on Monday said it was “false” to claim that funding of domestic non-governmental organisations was transparent, in comments on the reintroduced bill on the transparency of foreign influence on the backdrop of public protests.
Georgia faces more protests this week as lawmakers resume debate on a "foreign agents" law that opponents denounce as a Russian-inspired tool to crack down on freedom of speech. The bill would force organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents, a term that carries connotations of spying. It has ignited a political crisis in the polarised South Caucasus country, which has hopes of joining the European Union and was awarded EU candidate status in December.