Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I agree with the point about the need to protect protesters. I think they're the really vulnerable ones. Consistent and incremental international pressure does work. The Georgian Dream is not as susceptible as some other governments were in Georgia, but it is still important, and people hear it, so I think that should be maintained.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Yes, there is officially—and constitutionally, of course—a clear separation, but traditionally the Orthodox Church has played a very important role. In general, because it's a national Georgian Orthodox Church, there is a tradition of identifying the role of the church and Christianity with a kind of self-identification in Georgia, because of the region where it is located, that it's just Georgians and Armenians who are Christian nations and so on.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't know. This is very difficult to predict. What I know is that we are watching almost the same film over and over again. This is not the first time that has happened in Georgia. In fact, in Georgia, the rule is to change the government through street protests rather than through the ballot box.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That's a very good question, and I think that's something the European officials are really struggling with. What is happening in Georgia is a surprise for Brussels. In fact, it's a surprise to many people, me included, because you are right: I was representing Georgia in Brussels for eight years, and I was doing it under this government.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  With this pivot and how the EU can deal with it, on the one hand, it has candidate status and it has accession negotiations. It tries now to negotiate and put pressure on the government and say that if they pass this law, they will not move on to another stage. I think this is the only thing the EU can do.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much. It is a great honour to address you on this topic, which is very important for Georgia. I would like to start by describing this law as a perfect case of the weaponization of transparency. Under the pretext of transparency and openness, it definitely aims at silencing and delegitimizing civil society, undermining independent media and simply suppressing dissent and freedom of expression and thought.