Shalva Papuashvili: The Adenauer Foundation has a political mission and, unable to carry it out, no longer sees a reason to remain in Georgia - the government offered it the option of removing political projects and would have approved other activities

“It was a somewhat unusual statement, and in its own statement they showed the reason why they are leaving – they have a political mission, and since they cannot carry out that political mission, they no longer see a reason to remain in the country. Foreign political parties and their foundations have no political mission to carry out in Georgia,” Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said, commenting on the Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s decision to close its office in Tbilisi.

According to Papuashvili, the foundation received a proposal from the Georgian government to remove political projects from its activities, while it would have been permitted to continue implementing other academic and educational projects. However, he said, the foundation apparently had no interest in non-political activities.

“In their statement, you would have seen that they say they have a political mission and, since they cannot carry out that political mission, they no longer see a reason to remain in the country. That is somewhat surprising.

“As you know, political foundations are foundations affiliated with political parties. The Adenauer Foundation is affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union. Let me remind you that the Christian Democratic Union is a member of the EPP and, through this, a partner party of the National Movement. And this foundation says that it wants to carry out a political mission in Georgia.

“I do not think foreign political parties and their foundations have any political mission to carry out in Georgia. Imagine Georgian Dream starting to carry out a political mission in Germany. I doubt the German authorities would allow Georgian Dream to conduct party-political missions in Berlin or any other city.

“They approached the government, and since they had projects with political content, the government offered them the option of removing the political projects. If they wanted to implement other academic or other types of projects, they would receive approval for that. But apparently, they have no interest in academic, educational or other directions.

“As it turned out from their own statement, they had a political mission, and since we cannot carry out this political mission, we are leaving. That is their decision.

“Georgian people have lost trust in organizations that have been involved in various donor activities in Georgia, after we saw that, unfortunately, foreign funding was used to promote a radical political agenda in Georgia. This was also confirmed by the new U.S. administration, which exposed what it described as harmful USAID schemes through which violence and radicalism were funded in Georgia.

“That is why we adopted the Law on Grants and Transparency, and the Georgian people supported these laws in the 2024 elections. In Georgia, as in any country, the operation of a foreign organization of a party-political nature is a privilege, not a right. If someone wants to exercise this privilege, they must comply with the rules established by the Georgian people.

“I think there are two foundations that are leaving. Cooperation with other foundations continues,” Papuashvili said.

For reference, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation is closing its office in Tbilisi.

“The closure of our office in Tbilisi is a direct result of the political and legal framework established by the Georgian government, which means that the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) can no longer fulfill its core mission,” the foundation said in a statement.