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The country's ruling Georgian Dream party says the law will be passed before parliamentary elections in October.
Pro-democracy groups have called for protests after Georgia's ruling party said it would revive the controversial “foreign agent law” it was forced to abandon last year in mass demonstrations.
The ruling Georgian Dream party said on Wednesday it plans to make another bid to pass legislation that would require organizations accepting money from abroad to register as “foreign agents”. This measure is seen as a threat to civil society and independent media.
Likened by critics – including Georgia's pro-EU president – to laws that Russian President Vladimir Putin has used to crush dissent, the proposed bill, if passed, would bar 20,000 people from abroad. Georgian organizations receiving funds in excess of the percentage will be required to register or face penalties. ,
The announcement of the bid to revive the controversial law comes just over a year after the bill was dropped under pressure from thousands of protesters in Tbilisi.
For several days in March 2023, protesters in the capital clashed with police, who fired water cannon and tear gas into the crowd.
The European Union, which Georgia intends to affix, additionally condemned the legislation final yr and warned that it could goal NGOs, media organizations and particular person journalists who obtain overseas funding.
In a press release on Wednesday, the Georgian Dream occasion stated that after the protests, it had modified the wording of the legislation.
Beneath the brand new model of the legislation, NGOs, media and journalists should register as “organizations furthering the pursuits of a overseas energy” somewhat than “brokers of overseas affect.”
“All different sections of the draft legislation will stay unchanged,” the occasion stated.
Mamuka Madinaradze, head of the parliamentary faction of the Georgian Dream governing bloc, stated opposition events had misled the general public concerning the legislation final yr.
He highlighted that the “Overseas Brokers” Invoice shall be handed earlier than Parliament breaks for the final election in October.
european path
Georgian Dream, based by billionaire and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, has been the nation's governing occasion since 2012.
Though it nonetheless holds ambitions of taking Georgia into the EU and NATO, in recent times, it has been accused by home and Western critics of authoritarian tendencies and extreme closeness to Russia.
The revival of the “overseas agent” legislation is more likely to spark additional criticism and deepen divisions within the nation, and pro-democracy teams that organized protests final yr have been fast to announce a reprisal towards the transfer.
“With all obtainable means, we are going to confront one other critical try and Russify Georgia,” they stated in a joint assertion.
President Salome Zurabishvili, who’s at odds with the ruling occasion, additionally condemned the transfer, saying it risked damaging Georgia's democracy.
Nevertheless, he additionally insisted that the nation wouldn’t derail from its European monitor.
“Georgia's European path can’t be stopped… nobody can restore the previous,” he stated on social media. “No Russian legislation or another damaging coverage can stop a decided nation from reaching its objectives.”
Georgia's European path can’t be stopped…nobody can restore the previous! No Russian legislation or another damaging coverage can stop a decided nation from reaching its objectives.
No passerine!– Salome Zourabichvili (@Zourabichvili_S) 3 April 2024