Supporting civil society, supporting free media has been a long time priority for Estonia. To say that Estonian government is conspiring against Georgia, or getting all the Georgian NGOs in some old shed in Tallinn is, of course, not true, - Estonian Ambassador to Georgia Marge Mardisalu-Kahar stated in an exclusive interview with InterpressNews, responding to the accusations of the Georgian Dream that some Georgian NGOs have re-registered in other countries, including Estonia, in order to circumvent the laws adopted in Georgia.

As the ambassador noted, supporting civil society is in the DNA of the European Union and Estonia.

“The entire logic is just so upside down compared to what it used to be also here in Georgia. Supporting civil society, supporting free media has been a long time priority for Estonia, and this has been the long time priority for the EU because supporting civil society is in the DNA of the European Union and Estonia. Without a strong civil society, there can be no strong democracy. Governments sometimes don't like it, and this is also the case in Estonia. Civil society is there sometimes also to criticize it, but civil society is also there to advance the regional development, or small cities, different aspects. And Estonia has been supporting it. Estonia has been very transparent about it. Estonia has a strong democracy. We have a civil society that can operate freely. We don't control our civil society. Our civil society can also get funding from abroad, of course, and we don't have problems. To say that Estonian government is conspiring against Georgia, or getting all the Georgian NGOs in some old shed in Tallinn is, of course, not true, but foreign civil society organizations as foreign individuals are all free to register themselves in Estonia. We are a democratic country. We don't control it in that sense. This is how it works. This is how democracy works”, said the Ambassador.