Ruling party official highlights “very unclear” motivation behind pausing financial assistance

Levan Machavariani, the Deputy Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party faction in the legislative body, on Tuesday said the European Union’s frozen €30 million in support for Georgia had been distributed to the domestic non-government sector.

Machavariani’s comment followed after the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday announced the suspension of more than $95 million in aid to the Georgian Government following the adoption of the law on transparency of foreign influence by the Georgian Parliament late May.

The ruling party official also commented on the media reports alleging that the United States had stopped the funding of the Lugar Laboratory in Tbilisi, built with funds allocated by the United States Government.

In his remarks, Machavariani noted it was necessary to wait for the United State’s decision on distributing the money.

“The explanation we hear is that this is all about the democratic backsliding, which is very unclear to me, as well as to the vast majority of our citizens. I don't know where these funds will be distributed, let's wait. €30 million of the European Union was distributed to the NGO sector”, Machavariani said.