Two days ago, Georgia—a country at the intersection of Europe and Asia—passed a bill banning foreign donor organizations from providing grants locally without government consent.
It requires government approval for monetary or in-kind grants to Georgian organisations and citizens, with violators facing steep fines. It also bans international organisations from arranging events on behalf of Georgian political parties.
How does Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, feel? Appropriate to comment on X, apparently.
Georgia [has] adopted a law that further shrinks civic space. Rushed and passed without consultation, it adds to recent repressive legislation. These steps undermine Georgia’s EU candidate status and core democratic principles
What about the European Commissioner for Enlargement (no pills involved), Marta Kos? Same script.
I deeply regret yet another step by the Georgian authorities away from EU values and standards. The law adopted today will further shrink civic space and add to existing repression. Such steps are contrary to democratic principles and should be reversed
The interesting part?
Georgia is a sovereign nation. It doesn’t need EU permission to pass its own laws.
So why is the EU barking so loudly? Because this law makes it harder for external Western forces to manipulate internal affairs—think coups d’état, installing their own people in key positions. Look at Romania’s case (Călin Georgescu’s ban), France’s Le Pen, or Germany’s AfD. But hey, those are just "democratic principles" and "EU values", right? Leadership through intimidation and force.
Meanwhile, the EU is plagued with its own crises: economic downturn, high energy costs, funding a losing war in Ukraine, losing the most important ally (US), the refugee crisis, inflation, Ursula von der Leyen...
It’s the desperation of a bloated structure that still thinks it matters in the world.
