On April 17, the Parliament of Georgia approved a legislative package in an expedited manner during its third reading. Following its enactment, international donor organizations will no longer be able to issue grants without the government’s consent. Under the same legislation, international organizations will also be prohibited from organizing lectures, seminars, or other similar public events in support of political parties. The EU reacted sharply.

The hastily adopted changes in Georgia threaten the independent functioning of civil society, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated in response to the amendments made by the Georgian Parliament to the Law on Grants.

The hastily reviewed and adopted laws in Georgia are fundamentally incompatible with the values of the European Union and basic democratic principles, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Stenegard commented on her X page.

The Georgian Dream’s accelerated passage of yet another bill to suppress the activities of non-governmental organizations marks another setback from the democratic future that the Georgian people desire, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (Democratic Party), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote on the social platform X.

Norway is deeply concerned about the amendments to Georgia’s Law on Grants, which transform it into a state control mechanism, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced in a special statement.

The law adopted today will further shrink civic space and intensify existing repression, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos wrote on her X page.