TOPSHOT - Protesters wave Georgian national and European flags during a demonstration outside the parliament building as they protest against a draft bill on"foreign influence" in Tbilisi on April 17, 2024. Thousands rallied in Georgia on
The controversial legislation proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, critics contend, mirrors a repressive Russian law on “foreign agents” that has been used against independent news media and groups seen as being at odds with the Kremlin. And again last week, he repeated his assertion that the law “is incompatible with the European Union’s values”.
To begin with, under the terms of the proposed law, organisations that receive 20% or more of their funding from overseas will have to register as agents of foreign influence and adhere to tight administrative rules, or else face substantial fines. Humanitarian organisations, as well as campaign groups and corruption watchdogs, could all face being branded with the label.
In defending the legislation – which has passed an initial round of voting in parliament but has yet to be adopted as law – Georgian Dream insist it is modelled on a US law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act and says the legislation is needed to promote transparency and combat “pseudo-liberal values” imposed by foreigners.
Speaking at the rally, opposition member of parliament Aleksandre Elisashvili condemned politicians who voted for the bill as “traitors” and said the rest of Georgia would show them that “people are power, and not the traitor government”. “The ruling party has also passed other laws, one abolishing gender quotas – which is definitely in breach of the conditions Georgia received for its candidacy. And then another law against anti-rights. This is again in breach of European values. This is again active non-compliance … and these initiations come from the Georgian Dream party,” Akhvlediani explained in an interview with the monthly EU politics, policy and culture magazine, The Parliament.
The Kremlin says it is absurd for opponents of the bill to portray it as a Russian project. Its spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week that the situation in Georgia was being used to “provoke anti-Russian sentiments” and that the Kremlin was closely watching developments.
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