The ongoing developments in the US make it imperative that all embassies publicly disclose every cent spent from their countries on elections, writes the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament on his Facebook page.

“The new U.S. administration acknowledges that under the umbrella of foreign aid, American money was used to finance the imposition of invented ideologies, censorship, interference in internal politics, overthrow of governments, etc. When the largest donor admits this, it automatically calls into question the integrity of other countries’ spending in Georgia.

Now it’s the turn of other donor countries to verify how their taxpayers’ money is being spent. The opposition and non-governmental organizations in these countries should be particularly interested in this. Brussels should set the example.

In autumn 2023, I sent a letter to the EU Ambassador requesting transparency in the funding of the European Endowment for Democracy (EED, which is referred to as NED’s European branch). After several months of consideration, I received a refusal from the Ambassador, with the excuse that EED is a separate organization. Of course, this was just an excuse. EED is fully funded from Brussels and member states’ budgets and is managed by several notorious MEPs.

The illegal spending of funds from Brussels and other capitals for partisan electoral purposes in the 2024 elections is a separate issue. We all remember how, following external pressure, the Anti-Corruption Bureau was forced to suspend its investigation into NGOs involved in elections after tracing foreign donors’ involvement.

The ongoing developments in the United States make it imperative that all embassies publicly disclose every cent spent from their countries on elections and internal political processes”, - writes Shalva Papuashvili.