Georgian parliament rejects draft law on foreign agents

The Parliament of Georgia rejected the draft law on the transparency of foreign influence in the second reading. About it informs TV channel Rustavi 2.

35 deputies opposed the initiative, one supported it. In total, 112 out of 150 parliamentarians attended the session.

In addition, today, March 10, the parliament stopped consideration of the second draft law “On the registration of foreign agents” – the “American” version. Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili informedthat the document was withdrawn by its authors.

Two drafts, On the Transparency of Foreign Influence and On the Registration of Foreign Agents, were submitted to the Georgian Parliament in February. According to the first version of the draft, it is proposed to assign the status of agents of foreign influence to non-governmental organizations and the media if more than 20% of their income comes from abroad. The second document refers to the assignment of this status not only to the media and organizations, but also to individuals.

On March 7, the draft law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” was adopted by Parliament in the first reading, which caused protests in Tbilisi. Riots continued in the Georgian capital on March 8 and 9, despite the decision to withdraw the bill from parliament.

The initiative was previously criticized by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. She supported the protesters and promised to veto it. The bill was negatively viewed in the EU and the US. According to Josep Borrell, head of the EU foreign policy service, the initiative contradicts Georgia’s aspirations to join the EU. The State Department did not rule out the imposition of sanctions against Georgia if the law is passed and stated that the project on foreign agents was “inspired by the Kremlin.”

The Russian authorities noted that a similar law (FARA) has been in force in the United States since 1938. In the Kremlin noted, that one of the versions of the Georgian bill was similar to the American one, and they said that Moscow had nothing to do with this initiative. Earlier today, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin declaredthat with the rejection of the law on foreign agents, Georgia “lost a chance for sovereignty.”