US halts $95m in aid to Georgia due to controversial
- 1 August, 10:27
Washington has halted the $95 million in US assistance to Georgia after the Southern Caucasus country’s parliament adopted a controversial ”foreign agent” law that threatens democracy and civil society.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, announced the suspension of aid to Georgia on Wednesday. “The Georgian government’s anti-democratic actions and false statements are incompatible with membership norms in the EU and Nato,” Blinken said. The US official added that the US would continue to fund programs in Georgia that promote democracy, the rule of law, independent media and economic development.
Reminding that Washington has provided over $6.2bn in assistance to Georgia over the past three decades since it won independence from the Soviet Union, Blinken pledged that “We will remain committed to the Georgian people and their Euro-Atlantic aspirations.”
The “foreign agent” law that was inspired by a similar law in Russia is believed to be aimed at cracking down on dissent and stifling democratic voices. The Law that was proposed by the ruling Georgia Dream party in April stipulates that any media and non-governmental organization register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. The Georgian parliament passed the law in May, overriding a veto by the country's president. The foreign agent law has drawn criticism from Georgia’s Western allies. It has also been slammed by the country’s civil society and sparked large-scale protests in the capital Tbilisi, with the protesters demanding that the controversial law be scrapped.
