An Open Letter

“Whichever way we go is a step back”: a call to transform Georgia’s chronic political crisis.

We are concerned about events in Georgia, where for the second year in a row, the pending adoption of a law regulating foreign funding of local NGOs has led to large-scale protests and deeply toxic and cynical political discourse. 

There is a distinct risk of political violence and attempts at disrupting democratic, constitutional processes and therefore, we must take this crisis seriously. Instead of the facile narrative of a “Russian law” somehow turning Georgia away from its path of European integration and towards Russia, we must take an objective look at the causes of this crisis and our own role in it, through an honest debate, and not only behind closed doors.

There exists a very real problem at the heart of Georgia’s peculiar political economy: a small number of NGOs, created and led by individuals connected to the previous government (defeated in a democratic election in 2012), with annual budgets of millions of dollars/euros from Western donors, has been engaging openly in partisan politics for some 5 years. They deny the government’s legitimacy and call for its ouster, not only by supporting the opposition in elections (already problematic for non-governmental organizations and arguably more so when funded by foreign states), but by agitating for a revolutionary change of power outside democratic, constitutional processes. They are amplified by media companies funded by the same foreign donors.

This status quo undermines Georgia’s democracy and sovereignty. None of us would accept such a state of affairs in our own countries. 

We grant that the Georgian Dream-led government tabled the law on foreign influence not out of altruistic concern for the health of Georgian democracy, but to curtail the power of their political opponents. This, however, does not change the fact that the present state of affairs is unsustainable. The years-long toxicity and polarization of Georgian politics and the frequently recurring mass mobilization events are symptoms of a persistent political crisis - and this crisis is fueled, to a material extent, by funding provided by Western governments. 

The reintroduction of a draft bill on NGOs’ financial transparency is the latest attempt to address the problem of a small number of powerful, well-funded NGOs engaging in hyper-partisan politics. Stating this does not mean we consider this law an effective or appropriate measure. It would create stress and costs for thousands of NGOs that steer clear of partisan politics and are not the intended targets of the law.  It might not even reduce the financial support of the powerful, partisan NGOs or moderate their problematic conduct. This draft law is not fit for the purpose of overcoming Georgia’s chronic political crisis.

The lack of transparency of foreign funding for these partisan NGOs has built up distrust between the Georgian government and its Western partners. This inevitably leads to conflict, between Georgia and its partners, and within Georgian politics, too. 

Since the first attempt to pass such a law was abandoned a year ago, the Georgian government has held consultations with donor governments to bring about voluntary transparency of their grant funding and self-regulation to prevent partisan political conduct by their grantees. When they failed to reach agreement with key donor agencies, the draft bill was tabled again, after minor changes. 

On April 11, the EU ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, said "without marginalizing, sidelining and stigmatizing civil society organizations, the necessary way to ensure transparency will be found”. This is encouraging because it shows that alternative pathways out of this crisis still exist. The government and all relevant foreign donors should pursue further dialogue, in good faith and with fair consideration for Georgia’s democracy and sovereignty.

Unfortunately, for now the opposite is happening: renewed cynical manipulation of the Georgian public by all sides. A propaganda strategy has termed the draft bill the “Russian law” and argued that it will drive Georgia away from the EU. As last year, protesters admit freely that they are not in the streets to defend NGOs and indeed do not much care about them, but that they are afraid that EU membership may be denied unless they prevent the adoption of this law. 

This “Russian law” narrative is inaccurate. We are dismayed that it is being voiced not only by opportunistic politicians, but by international partners who should be more objective. Also, telling Georgians, whose country has scored consistently high on reforms required for EU accession, that their dream of EU membership will come to an end because of this law feels like unseemly blackmail. 

Our most thoughtful Georgian friends tell us that the conduct of all sides in this crisis is taking their society farther away from democracy and progressive reforms: “whichever way we go is a step back”. The current discourse is devoid of creative, constructive solutions. 

Beyond the current crisis, the extraordinarily large number of Georgian NGOs that developed over a quarter-century of high levels of foreign aid and their outsize role in policy-making and public services present other, no less complex, challenges. The law on transparency of foreign influence cannot begin to address all these challenges, nor is it meant to. At this point, diffusing the current, acute political crisis is the priority.

Echoing ambassador Herczyński’s statement above, we call for the immediate start of open, and ideally public, consultations involving all Georgian and international stakeholders on improved separation between the non-governmental sector and partisan politics, by financial transparency or any other appropriate means.

David Lee is a private investor in Georgia, the founder and former CEO of the European Business Association and the former Chairman of the Europe Foundation in Georgia. He has been living in Georgia since 2004.  

Almut Rochowanski is an activist who specializes in civil society resourcing and development in the former Soviet Union, including in Georgia and Russia.