Georgia Parliament Officially Withdraws Controversial “Foreign Agents” Bill

First modification: 03/10/2023 – 21:31

Georgian lawmakers voted against the foreign agents bill in second reading on Friday. A vote that comes after the ruling Georgian Dream party, which dominates Parliament, withdrew its support for the project on Thursday after three nights of protests in the capital Tbilisi.

The bill had been denounced by the opposition as a tool that could be used to stifle dissent and curtail media freedoms, just as Russia is doing with a similar law.

However, the Legislative regulations indicate that a bill that has been approved on first reading cannot be withdrawn and must continue to be processed until it is rejected or approved.

So, less than a day after the government said it would withdraw it, the bill was put to a vote in Parliament, Georgia’s unicameral legislature. Lawmakers voted 35-1 against the bill in a session that lasted just four minutes and in which there was no debate.

What was the foreign agent law?

The bill had passed its first reading earlier in the week after lawmakers scuffled in the chamber over the plans, but tens of thousands of protesters then took to the streets of Tbilisi.

The proposed law would have required media outlets and non-governmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from foreign sources to register with the Georgian Ministry of Justice as “foreign influence agents.”

Opponents claimed the plan was undemocratic and pushed the country in an increasingly authoritarian direction. They argued that, if enacted, the law could hamper Georgia’s aspirations to one day join NATO and the European Union.

They also claimed that it was modeled on a 2012 Russian law that Russia has used extensively to crack down on civil society and independent media; a claim denied by Georgian Dream.

The authors of the bill justified that it was inspired by the US Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, although Washington rejected that comparison. The US law, enacted 80 years ago to expose Nazi propaganda, requires people to disclose when they lobby the United States on behalf of foreign governments or political entities.

An issue championed by Georgian Dream

The plan has fueled internal criticism of the government as too close to Moscow, in contrast to the fiercely anti-Russian Georgian public. Asked about the similarities with its own “foreign agents” legislation, the Kremlin said it had no involvement in the Georgian bill and rejected suggestions that it was inspired by Russia.

However, on Friday, government officials continued to defend the bill, even after allowing it to be defeated in Parliament. Georgian Dream chairman Irakli Kobakhidze said the proposals would increase transparency, expose critics of the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church and foreign forces that he says help groups “boost LGBT propaganda” and criticize the electoral system. from Georgia.

Following Friday’s vote, Kobakhidze also stated that the public debate around the bill had raised awareness of foreign funding of groups in Georgia. It was not clear whether the government might try to revive the legislation in the future.

Georgian Dream had indicated in a statement on Thursday that it remained in favor of the proposals, with analysts saying the issue was unlikely to go away before elections scheduled for next year.

The protests and clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday between demonstrators and riot police, who used water cannons and tear gas, resulted in more than 130 detainees and 60 injured public force agents.

With Reuters, AP and EFE