TBILISI, April 3./TASS/. Georgia’s ruling party has reintroduced a bill on foreign agents, published on the parliament’s website.
Earlier on Wednesday, the parliamentary leader of the Georgian Dream party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, said the decision had been made to reintroduce the bill a year after this initiative triggered mass protests, making the authorities opt against adopting it. According to Mdinaradze, the bill will be almost identical to last year’s, with one exception: the term ‘agent of foreign influence’ will be replaced with ‘organization pursuing foreign interests’.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, it is necessary to introduce the concept of an organization conducting foreign interests and start registering these entities accordingly. It is also noted that the legislative act is merely advisory in nature and will not restrict the activities of organizations that will be recognized as conducting foreign interests.
The bill does not apply to individuals, it applies to non-profit legal entities and media, more than 20% of whose income comes from abroad. The ruling party's decision to reintroduce the bill on foreign agents caused a negative reaction among the opposition and President Salome Zurabishvili, who dubbed the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia's actions as trying to sabotage the country's EU aspirations. The opposition has not yet announced any protests. According to Mdinaradze, the law is planned to be adopted before the end of the spring session.
Protests in 2023
Thousands of people protested in Tbilisi on March 7 and 8, 2023, after the parliament passed the draft law on foreign agents under the first reading. The bill was opposed by European politicians and members of the opposition, who voiced concerns that the initiative could become an obstacle to the country’s EU candidate status.
Police used water cannons and tear gas during the rallies, which lasted well into the night. After the protests in the capital city, on the morning of March 9, the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party decided to withdraw the bill, and on March 10, MPs voted against the initiative. Afterwards, the leaders of the ruling party assured that they did not intend to re-initiate such a bill. At the end of 2023, the EU granted the candidate status to Georgia and set out the next steps for the start of EU membership negotiations.