Despite initial promises, the donors eventually refused to disclose the funding. Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of the party and the leader of the parliamentary majority, announced this at a briefing held at the office of the ruling party.

“As you know, last year we made a humane decision and made allowances even for the part of the public that was misled. Furthermore, there was a threat of serious provocations that could have endangered peoples’ lives and health. We decided to withdraw the draft law based on these considerations. It was also repeatedly noted that despite the withdrawal of the draft law, the initiative has already fulfilled its function to a significant extent. The public learned that the organizations at the heart of the revolutionary processes pursue the interests of a foreign power, rather than those of the Georgian people.

At the same time, to reiterate, while the practice of the foreign funding of radicalism and so-called polarization has significantly weakened, the problem has not been completely eliminated and specific organizations funded by a foreign power, together with radical opposition parties, remain the main source of radicalism and so-called polarization in Georgia. We have tried to completely eliminate the problem of transparency on numerous occasions but to no avail. Despite initial promises, the donors eventually refused to disclose the funding and, in the end, found themselves in such an inconvenient situation that they could not even respond to the messages of top-level officials. Given that the ideal outcome did not manifest, and the public received a great deal more information about the issue, we believe that initiating the draft law has no alternative.

The logical condition for not adopting the law “On the Transparency of Foreign Influence” was the practical provision of transparency of foreign influence, which, unfortunately, could not be achieved even after long consultations with embassies and donors. Moreover, we see how the inflow of non-transparent money increases in the run-up to the elections in Georgia, and the majority of these funds is directed to supporting radical parties, radical NGOs, and radical propagandist media. Although at first glance the support for radicalism has weakened in Georgia compared to the previous three years, we have no right to become complacent as it is common knowledge that apparent silence often precedes a storm.

Unfortunately, donors persist in their refusal to disclose to the Georgian people who and what they are funding in Georgia. When donors refuse to recognize their responsibility to the Georgian people, protecting the interests of the Georgian people is the responsibility of our government, elected by the people”, - said Mamuka Msinaradze.