Amid the closure of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Georgia, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili stated that foreign organizations should not have political missions in the country.
“In their statement, they note that they have a political mission, and since there is no opportunity to carry it out, it no longer makes sense for them to remain in the country. This is somewhat surprising.
As you know, political foundations are entities affiliated with political parties. The Adenauer Foundation is affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Let me remind you that the Christian Democratic Union is a member of the EPP (European People’s Party) and, consequently, a partner party to the United National Movement, and this foundation claims it wants to carry out a political mission in Georgia.
In my view, foreign political parties and their foundations have no political mission in Georgia,” Papuashvili said.
According to the speaker, the government set a precondition for the Adenauer Foundation to approve grant projects: “remove projects of a political nature, and if they wish to implement academic or other similar initiatives, they will receive approval for that.”
“However, it appears they have no interest in the academic or educational track. As evident from their own statement, their objective was to carry out a political mission, and since we cannot fulfill this mission, we are leaving. That is their choice.”
Meanwhile, Georgian media outlets point out that Papuashvili himself spent 17 years working for German organizations. From 2003 to 2007, he served as a senior legal expert for the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ), and subsequently, from 2007 to 2020, for the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). In his final years with the organization, he also held the position of team leader for Georgia.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) closed its representative office in Tbilisi on September 30. The organization stated that it was forced to take this step due to restrictions imposed by the Georgian government.
Simultaneously, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation office also announced its closure after 20 years of operating in Georgia. As the reason for the move, it likewise cited restrictive legislation enacted by the ruling Georgian Dream party.