Georgia’s parliament has passed the “foreign agents” bill.
The lawmakers voted 84 to 30 to pass the bill on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, despite weeks of protests against the measure and warnings from Brussels that its passage could harm the country’s bid to join the European Union.
Under the legislation, media or civil society groups in Georgia that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad will be required to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”.
The Georgian government has argued that the legislation is merely about transparency.
The government says that the bill is needed to combat “pseudo-liberal values” promoted by foreigners and preserve Georgia’s sovereignty.
Critics claim the ruling party is seeking to pull the country away from its European aspirations and back towards Moscow.
The U.S state department has called the bill “Kremlin-inspired” as it has echoes of legislation introduced into the Russian statute books in 2012 by Vladimir Putin that critics say has been used to silence critics.
Critics insist that it poses a threat to democratic freedoms.
The ruling Georgian Dream party was forced by mass protests to withdraw the bill last year. The revised effort to push the legislation through has provoked huge demonstrations.
Demonstrations have been running for weeks, peaking in the evening, when crowds numbering in the tens of thousands have mounted some of the biggest protests seen in Georgia since it regained independence from Moscow in 1991.
About 1,000 protesters picketed the parliament building as the debate got underway on Tuesday. A major police presence, with water cannon idling, was deployed nearby.
The United States, Britain, Germany, Italy and France have all urged Georgia to withdraw the bill.
Georgia’s Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, earlier met the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, Jim O’Brien, in Tbilisi to discuss Washington’s concerns.
According to the prime minister’s office, Kobakhidze had “explained to Jim O’Brien the need to adopt the law ‘On Transparency of Foreign Influence’” and reiterated the “readiness of the leadership team to carefully consider all legal comments of international partners within the framework of the veto procedure”.
The Kremlin, which denies any role in inspiring the Georgian bill, said on Tuesday that the crisis was Tbilisi’s internal affair and accused outside powers of meddling.
“We see an unveiled intervention in the internal affairs of Georgia from the outside,” Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said.
“This is an internal matter of Georgia, we do not want to interfere there in any way.”
The draft now goes to the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili.
After the law is sent to Zourabichvili, she has 14 days to either veto or approve it.
She has said that she would veto the law, but the governing party has sufficient numbers in the parliament to overrule her.
Foreign Agents Bill, A Barrier To Georgia’s EU Integration
The European Union, which gave Georgia candidate status in December, has repeatedly said that the bill will be a barrier to Tbilisi’s further integration with the bloc.
European Council President, Charles Michel said on Tuesday that “if they want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles”.
Georgian Dream insists that it still has ambitions of joining both the EU and NATO, even as it has adopted harsh anti-Western rhetoric in recent months.
Polls show Georgian public opinion is strongly supportive of EU integration, while many Georgians are hostile to Russia over Moscow’s support for the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
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