Georgia. President Salome Zurabishvili announces her veto against the law on foreign agents

In an interview with the BBC published on Wednesday, Georgian President Salome Zourabishvili announced her veto against the bill on the so-called Transparency of Foreign Influences, also known as the Foreign Agents Act.

At the same time, she admitted that the bill's supporters had a majority that would allow them to reject the veto. For this purpose, at least 76 votes are required. – But my veto is the voice of the people and this voice will be heard, Zurabishvili said.

Earlier on Wednesday, the parliament adopted the bill in the first reading. The head of government, Irakli Kobakhidze, said that statements and appeals by Western politicians to abandon work on the project are not convincing and therefore will not stop the ruling party, Georgian Dream, from adopting the law.

“The Georgian Parliament today adopted the 'Transparency of Foreign Influence' law in first reading, despite repeated calls from the European Union to abandon it and despite mass protests,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.

“This is a very disturbing fact, and the final adoption of the law will negatively impact Georgia's progress on the road to EU membership. This law does not correspond to the basic norms and values ​​of the EU,” he added.

He explained that the new law “will limit the ability of civil society and the media to function freely, and may also restrict freedom of expression and unfairly stigmatize organizations that benefit society.”

Georgian Dream, which has been ruling Georgia for a third term, has returned to work on the new law, which it abandoned in March last year after mass protests and criticism from Western countries.

The law, modeled on the Russian one – for this reason also called the Russian Law – provides that legal entities and media receiving more than 20 percent of financing from abroad would be subject to registration and reporting and would be entered into a special register of agents of foreign influence. The Ministry of Justice will be able to carry out inspections of such organizations under any pretext.

After resuming work on the bill, representatives of the US, EU and UN expressed concern and appealed to the authorities in Tbilisi to withdraw from the project. It was emphasized that it was in contradiction with Georgia's European aspirations and its European integration process. In December 2023, Georgia received EU candidate status.

Although Georgians have taken to the streets en masse in recent days to protest against the bill, Georgian Dream announced that it “will not give up” and called critical comments and appeals from the US, EU and international organizations “interference in the country's internal affairs.”

During large protests that took place on Monday and Tuesday in the center of Tbilisi, there were arrests and the use of gas by law enforcement agencies against demonstrators. Journalists and protesters were also allegedly beaten.