The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, accused the ambassadors of the USA, the European Union, and EU member states of violating diplomatic standards while evaluating the "Agents Law" and offered them to hold a public discussion for the "transparency" of the processes surrounding the draft law.

The Prime Minister published the initiative about this offer on the evening of April 14 on his official Facebook page. This offer states that Western diplomats are establishing the practice of replacing the political opposition in Georgia, and the government understands this "given the paucity of political and intellectual resources of the opposition."

The statement reads: "Georgia values and takes care of relations with partner countries. Considering the main priority of our foreign policy - integration into the European Union, cooperation with high-ranking representatives of the United States of America, the European Union, and EU member states, including ambassadors, and listening to their opinions is a particular priority for us. We appreciate all the supportive steps and statements of the current ambassadors, which are aimed at strengthening Georgia's international position. Accordingly, we will pay special attention to all their sound advice and recommendations in the future.

In accordance with the practice introduced in Georgia in recent years, foreign diplomats continue to actively participate in the ongoing political debates in the country.

They especially intensively try to combine the function of the legislator, to actively participate in the law-making process, and to dictate to the main body of representative democracy - the parliament elected by the Georgian people, which laws to adopt and which not to.

Although this practice of replacing the political opposition does not correspond to the standards of diplomacy, given the scarcity of political and intellectual resources of the opposition, we can understand it to some extent.

However, we cannot understand the widespread practice when foreign diplomats cannot answer our arguments behind closed doors with arguments and still make groundless political statements in public space.

Over the past few days, we have heard critical statements from several foreign diplomats regarding the "Transparency of Foreign Influence" bill. Just like the messages of our political opponents, these statements were devoid of any arguments and justification.

I believe that transparency and publicity are the best way to prevent evil. The baseless criticism we often hear from foreign diplomats is generalized by society to the respective countries, which entails serious risks. Georgian society must maintain trust in partner countries, which is our duty and responsibility to take care of.

Ambassadors periodically request closed meetings. We have never refused meetings, and we are ready for closed meetings in the future. However, due to the fact that the opaque political discussion around the draft law "On transparency of foreign influence" harms the trust of the Georgian society towards our partner countries, I suggest to the ambassadors of the United States of America, the European Union, and EU member states to hold a public discussion about this draft law.

I am sure that, in the conditions of the live broadcast of the subject discussion between the leaders of the government and the ambassadors, the Georgian society will create a much clearer idea of the essence of the draft law and the necessity of its adoption for the protection of state sovereignty".

The Parliament of Georgia planned to review the "Agents' Law" on April 15. In addition to the already familiar disputed law, in the spring of 2024, "Georgian Dream" registered another legislative initiative in the parliament - an initiative restricting assembly and expression to prohibit "LGBT propaganda."