Georgia putting EU path at risk, bloc’s top diplomat says

Georgia putting EU path at risk, bloc’s top diplomat says

Diplomat

Luxembourg, June 24, 2024 (dpa/NAN) EU foreign ministers are considering a response to Georgia’s recently passed law that tightens rules for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in receipt of foreign funding, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell.

Borrell on Monday said, if further measures of the same kind were taken, then “the door to the European Union would not be open.’’

The legislation requires independent media and other civil society organisations to register as “foreign agents’’ and submit information to the state if they receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad.

The ruling Georgian Dream party justified the law as being in service of greater transparency and boosting Georgian sovereignty.

Mass protests and the intervention of the EU and the United States, which both oppose the law, failed to move the government.

Opponents believe the law will serve to silence organisations critical of the government in a way similar to what has happened in Russia.

EU foreign ministers are debating a range of responses, including a freeze on high-level meetings and channeling EU funding directly to NGOs in the country.

But there are also concerns about provoking the Georgian public, which remains solidly pro-EU.

“It is really important to keep them engaged towards the EU,’’ Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said.

Speaking at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis however said the options currently under consideration do not go far enough.

He also said that halting Georgia’s progress towards the EU needs to be considered. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

UMD/HS

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Edited by Ummul Idris/Halima Sheji