TBILISI, July 30 – In a speech in Geneva, Georgian parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili claimed excessive foreign interference has harmed the development of Georgia’s democracy, calling instead for international actors to respect national sovereignty.
In a speech at the World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Geneva, the speaker claimed that some foreign-funded NGOs in Georgia have presented themselves as representatives of the broader society, despite lacking a direct democratic mandate from the people. According to Papuashvili, this creates a perception that these groups act as a counterweight to the elected parliament, while in fact, they are not based on popular legitimacy through elections, but on funding from abroad.
The speaker expressed concern over what he described as a broader trend of ideological pressure, where foreign agendas are promoted through civil society organizations at the expense of national traditions and political independence. He framed this as a challenge to both democracy and peace.
Papuashvili stated that true democratic peace requires transparency, accountability, and justice, and that peace should be rooted not only in the absence of war but also in the respect for the sovereignty, culture, and traditions of nations. He warned that external efforts to influence domestic politics, through unregulated funding or political engineering, undermine these principles.
The speech aligns with how the ruling Georgian Dream party justifies its two new laws nominally creating greater transparency in foreign funding to NGOs. The move has been vigorously resisted by the opposition and civic activists who see it as part of a broader clampdown on democratic rights in general.
