Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili said the officials reviewed 165 grant applications over the past year and gave a “positive recommendation” for issuing grants in more than 95% of cases, referring to the controversial procedure under Georgia’s Law on Grants that critics say effectively restricts access for critical media and non-government actors to foreign funding.
The law, which has been amended several times since last April, requires donors to obtain government approval before disbursing grants. Recent legislative changes have significantly expanded the definition of what constitutes such a “grant” while introducing criminal penalties for related violations. Observers warned that these provisions are highly restrictive, noting that the requirements and the surrounding official rhetoric have discouraged donors and beneficiaries from even applying for such approval.
“Not a single project that was not [directed] against Georgia’s national interests was rejected,” Botchorishvili told the disputed parliament on April 15, as she was summoned under an interpellation procedure to answer questions from the opposition For Georgia party. “More than 95% – this concerns projects worth about 47 million lari,” she added.
According to her, the Georgian Dream government made decisions on 165 grant applications between April 16, 2025, and April 8, 2026. April 16, 2025, marks the date when the Georgian Dream-led parliament adopted initial controversial amendments to the country’s Law on Grants, introducing a requirement for foreign donors to obtain government approval before disbursing funds to local organizations.
Botchorishvili claimed that laws and regulations adopted in 2024–2025, which she said were “aimed at preventing foreign interference in [Georgia’s] politics and ensuring transparency of foreign influence, had not led to the suspension or cancellation of any projects.”
The 2025 changes to the Grants Law, along with several legislative acts adopted since 2024 restricting foreign funding, including the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, often referred to as the Foreign Agents Law, and the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), have been widely seen as curbing the work of local civil society organizations and media. The April amendments to the Law sparked immediate outcry from Georgia’s Western partners, who expressed concerns and worries that the changes were repressive and would further shrink independent voices in Georgia.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia had provided a similar figure about the number of registered and approved grants to the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism Rapporteur Patrycja Grzebyk, covering the period up to February 2026. Grzebyk, whose critical report was published on March 12, said Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told her that approval is granted if a grant “does not have political content.” However, she noted that the “mere existence of such a provision may, and in fact does, discourage both donors and potential beneficiaries (especially those involved in challenging the government legally or rhetorically) from even applying.”
Speaking on the basis of the report, Nona Kurdovanidze, former head of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a prominent human rights watchdog, said on April 14 that the approvals were primarily granted to projects “oriented towards delivering some kind of service,” while watchdog organizations had “entirely vanished” from this space. GYLA, which has operated for over three decades, said in March that it was temporarily suspending its free legal aid services and would focus only on strategic cases, entering what it called “crisis mode” amid increasing pressure on civil society.
Months after government consent became mandatory, the British Embassy said it canceled planned grants aimed at supporting transparency and competitiveness in Georgia’s October 4 local elections. The embassy cited procedural “uncertainty” stemming from the newly amended law.
Online media outlet Tabula later said that a £50,000 British grant had been intended to support its coverage of the local elections. Several civil society organizations, including the GYLA, the Rule of Law Centre, and Georgia’s Future Academy, were also among those affected, as they were reportedly set to receive around £100,000 each from the British Embassy.
Georgian Dream officials later said the British Embassy aimed to fund “propaganda” and “extremism” in the country. The embassy rejected the ruling party’s accusations.
Since April 2025, the disputed parliament has amended the Law on Grants several times. In its first amendment in June, the definition of grants requiring government approval for disbursement was expanded to include “technical assistance” and “knowledge-sharing” from foreign organizations.
The law was further amended in March 2026, when the scope of grants requiring government approval was significantly expanded to cover any potential money or in-kind support from a foreign organization or foreign citizen to a Georgian organization, citizen, or resident engaged in a range of politically related activities. The amendments also introduced criminal liability for violations, including imprisonment of up to six years as a possible penalty in certain cases. The changes, adopted alongside amendments to other laws, were criticized by local and international actors, who warned that civic space and political activity in Georgia could be significantly restricted.
In April, Georgian Dream drafted and adopted another amendment that exempted grants disbursed by diplomatic and international organization missions for their “own activities” from the requirement to obtain government approval.
In 2025, dozens of civil society organizations received inspection requests from the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, which cited, among other laws, the Law on Grants, to request wide-ranging information about their activities.
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