A protester argues with police officers during a demonstration against the foreign influence bill at the parliamentary building in Tbilisi, Georgia, Tuesday, May 28, 2024. Georgia’s parliament overrode the presidential veto of foreign influence legislation “foreign agents” that fueled the West. concerns and sparked massive protests for weeks.
Zourab Tsertsvadze/AP
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Zourab Tsertsvadze/AP
TBILISI, Georgia — The speaker of Georgia’s parliament said Monday he has given final approval to a controversial “foreign agents” bill that has sparked weeks of protests from critics who say it would restrict the freedoms of media and would jeopardize Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.
Shalva Papuashvili signed the bill after the legislature, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, rejected President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto.
The bill, which was approved by Parliament last month, requires media outlets, non-governmental organizations and other non-profit groups to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their financing from abroad.
Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the ruling party, vetoed it, accusing the ruling party of endangering the country’s future and “obstructing the path to full membership in the free and democratic world.
The government says the law is necessary to stem what it sees as harmful foreign actors trying to destabilize the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million, but many Georgian journalists and activists say the real The objective of the bill is to stigmatize them and restrict debate before the adoption of this law. legislative elections scheduled for October.
Opponents denounced the legislation as “Russian law” because it resembles measures imposed by the Kremlin to suppress independent news media, nonprofits and activists. Critics say the move may have been motivated by Moscow to thwart Georgia’s chances of further integration with the West.
On Monday, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze again dismissed the criticism, calling it “unnecessary emotions that had only an artificial basis.”
“Now the law has already come into force and we all need to act pragmatically, with a calm mind and put aside unnecessary emotions,” he said.
The bill is almost identical to one that the ruling party was forced to withdraw last year after massive street protests. New protests once again gripped Georgia as the bill was this time passed by Parliament. Protesters clashed with police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them.
Papuashvili, the speaker of Parliament, reaffirmed after signing the bill that its main goal is “to increase the resistance of Georgia’s political, economic and social systems to external interference.” “If non-governmental organizations and media want to participate in the decision-making process and influence the lives of the Georgian people through funding from foreign governments, they must meet minimum standards of transparency: the public must know who is behind each actor.,” he said.
EU: Law ‘has a negative impact’ on Georgia’s path to membership
The European Union’s foreign policy arm said adoption of the law “would have a negative impact on Georgia’s progress on the EU path.”
The EU offered Georgia candidate status last December, while specifying that Tbilisi must implement key policy recommendations for its candidacy to progress.
After parliamentary approval of the bill last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that travel sanctions would be imposed on Georgian officials “who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia.” He expressed hope that the Georgian government will reverse course and “take steps to move forward with its country’s democratic and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.”
The opposition United National Movement has described the bill as part of Georgian Dream’s efforts to drag the country into Russia’s sphere of influence – a claim the ruling party angrily rejects. Georgian Dream was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and billionaire who made his fortune in Russia.
Relations between Russia and Georgia have often been difficult since Georgia became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
In 2008, Russia fought a brief war against Georgia, which had tried unsuccessfully to regain control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia, as independent states and strengthened its military presence there. Most countries around the world consider these two regions to be part of Georgia.
Tbilisi has severed diplomatic ties with Moscow and the status of these regions remains a major irritant, although relations between Russia and Georgia have improved in recent years.
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