On April 9, the anti-opposition Facebook page “Political Absurdity” published a post claiming that France is adopting a “Russian-style” law to prevent foreign interference. On the same day, the Chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, Anri Okhanashvili, published a video, which stated that:
- The French legislative initiative considers countries like the US, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Switzerland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Ukraine, Moldova, Australia and any non-EU country as a foreign power that might interference in the internal affairs of the country ;
- The European Union also initiated a directive similar to the bill by the “Georgian Dream”;
- American FARA does not only apply to lobbying activities, since lobbying activities are covered by the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and FARA also applies to the activities of media and non-governmental organizations, the video uses a letter written by non-governmental organizations to the US Congress, in which they requested that the law not be extended to them as an example.
The mentioned video was later published on the Facebook page of TV Imedi. Excerpts of the video were published on April 10 on the Facebook page “Georgian dream is my choice” (1,2,3). “Georgian Dream” MP Irakli Zarkua also compared the “Georgian Dream” bill to the French bill.
The video presents facts manipulatively, as if the bill initiated by “Georgian Dream” is similar to the French bill and the EU directive. In reality:
1) The legislative proposals of France and the European Union, in contrast to the “Georgian Dream” draft law, place the emphasis not only on the source of financing but also on the activities of the entities;
2) France and the European Union also specify that these entities should act under the influence or guidance of foreign countries, which is not found in the “Georgian Dream” bill.
3) The French bill does not apply equally to all non-EU states, because its initiation was preceded by the publication of parliamentary reports in which Russia and China are named as the main threats.
4) As far as the US is concerned, the information in the video is also manipulative, because the “Lobbying Disclosure Act” applies to the lobbying of entities operating within the country, while lobbyists of foreign powers are required to be registered by FARA. In a letter written by non-governmental organizations to the Congress, they urged the US government to further narrow and specify the definition of a foreign agent.
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Is France adopting a law similar to that of the “Georgian Dream” which concerns all non-EU countries?
The development of the draft law on the prevention of foreign interference in France was preceded by the publication of the reports of the parliamentary delegation of intelligence (DPR) and the investigative committees of the National Assembly, the purpose of which was to reveal the threats related to political, economic and financial interference by foreign powers. The annual report of the parliamentary delegation of intelligence talks about three types of threats: classic (economic espionage or attempts to get closer to political elites), modern (use of cyberspace and espionage through satellites) and hybrid (information influence and manipulation operations to influence the country’s political position). The report names Russia, China, Iran and Turkey as the main threats, devoting separate subsections to them. One of the sub-chapters talks about paying attention to allies, including the US, Israel, Australia and New Zealand and Canada. The report states that it refers to technologies for espionage and economic espionage, and that the threats of allied financing of political parties, corruption, bribery of elected politicians, and manipulation of information in the media and social networks do not come from the allies.
The report by the National Assembly’s Investigative Committee distinguishes between foreign interference and foreign influence, and says that foreign interference is characterized by attacks on a country’s fundamental interests, the use of corrupt and espionage methods, including through modern technologies such as information warfare and cyber attacks. The report names Russia and China as the main threats. Several other countries are also named, from which the danger may originate. These are: Iran, Morocco, Qatar and Turkey.
The countries listed in the video published by Anri Okhanashvili – Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Ukraine and Moldova – are not mentioned in the reports or in the draft law. The draft law specifies that non-EU countries are meant by foreign power, although a specific list is not found there. The fact that the draft law is inspired by the above-mentioned reports indicates that its main targets are the countries identified as the main threat in the report.
The bill would make several changes to existing French laws, including the 2013 law on transparency in public life, which mainly applies to civil servants. Among them is the definition of the act of “interference” in the Monetary and Financial Code, which is formulated as follows: “An act committed directly or indirectly at the request of or for the benefit of a foreign power, and aimed in any way, including by providing false or inaccurate information, the fundamental interests of the country, undermining the functioning or sustainability of vital infrastructure and the regular functioning of democratic institutions.”
The draft law considers those physical and legal persons who try to influence the decisions of society regarding legislative and regulatory acts as representatives of interests acting in favor of a foreign power. In addition, they are directly or indirectly controlled by a foreign (non-EU) country or more than half of their financial resources come from these countries.
The legislative change will also affect the Tax Code, according to which organizations that conduct analysis on issues related to national public policy and foreign policy must provide information on donations or funding received from a foreign power.
In the draft law initiated by “Georgian Dream” on April 3, legal entities that receive more than 20% of their income from a foreign power are declared as organizations carrying out the interests of a foreign power, although the Georgian draft law, contrary to the French one, does not specify that their activities must be carried out at the direction of a foreign power or in favor of its interests or to have any specific objective which will be harmful to the national interest of the country. All countries, all persons without Georgian citizenship and all organizations registered outside of Georgia are classified as foreign powers. Unlike France, the explanatory card of the “Georgian Dream” draft law does not specify which countries or what type of threats caused its initiation.
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Does the European Union adopt a directive similar to the “Georgian Dream” draft law?
The main difference between the EU directive on the transparency of the activities of interest representatives and the draft law initiated by “Georgian Dream” is that the EU directive is focused only on those organizations and individuals whose goal is to influence EU policy and public opinion in order to pursue the interests of the governments of non-member countries or organizations related to them. (Article 2). The Directive also focuses on foreign governments and related entities and does not cover all foreign nationals and all organizations registered in a foreign country (Article 2).
There are also significant differences in terms of registration and supervision. The European Union directive emphasizes that the registry should be neutral, and the body that will supervise it should be independent from political influences and free from government directives (Articles 9 and 15). According to the “Georgian Dream” bill, the registry is supervised by the National Agency of Public Registry operating in the sphere of governance of the Ministry of Justice (Articles 9 and 15). Article 4). In addition, while the European Union directive specifies that the supervisory body will need to submit appropriate justification for requesting limited information from the organization (Article 16), according to the “Georgian Dream” draft law, the National Public Registry Agency will be able to investigate any organization based on a written request by any person if he/she deems that this organization meets the criteria to register as an agent of foreign influence (Article 8).
“Myth Detector” wrote about the EU directive and its differences from the draft law initiated in the Parliament of Georgia in December 2023 as well:
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Which Acts apply to lobbying and what NGOs asked the US government for in 2018?
In fact, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) covers domestic lobbying, while foreign lobbyists are covered by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). FARA, as well as the aforementioned documents of the European Union and France, have much more specifics in the definition of the agent of a foreign country than the “Georgian Dream” bill. Accordingly, FARA focuses not only on the receipt of foreign funding, but also on whose instructions, orders, or requests the recipient of financing is acting and what activities it is engaged in.
As alleged evidence that FARA applies not only to individuals and organizations engaged in lobbying activities, but also to all non-governmental organizations and media, the video released by Anri Okhanashvili states that non-governmental organizations have written to the US Congress and asked FARA not to be applied to them.
In fact, in an open letter to Congress in April 2018, the NGOs urged Congress to further narrow the definition of an agent, because under the law, a foreign agent can be someone who acts with the direct influence or request of a foreign country. Organizations believe that the term “request” in the definition is problematic.
The organizations’ letter states not that the law currently applies to them, but that in the future, the definitions in the law may lead to a broad interpretation, and because of this, they consider it necessary to further narrow the definition.
You can learn more about the draft law on “Foreign Agents” initiated in Georgia below:
- Why is the “Agents Law” Russian and NOT Western?
- American or Russian Model? Who are the Actors Demanding Governmental Control over the NGOs?
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