The Georgian Parliament adopted the controversial bill on “foreign influence” on Tuesday, May 14, despite large-scale demonstrations against this text which, according to its detractors, diverts this Caucasian country from Europe for lure into Moscow’s orbit.
During a third and final reading, deputies voted 84 votes to 30 in favor of the text, according to images broadcast on public television. During the debates with a view to adopting the text on the third and final reading, elected officials from the majority confronted several others from the opposition with punches, according to images broadcast by public television in this Caucasian country.
The Georgian Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, assured that the bill would be passed at all costs despite the demonstrations which have been taking place every day for more than three weeks in several cities across the country. The new legislation requires independent media and civil society organizations to register as entities “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
For the EU, an “obstacle in [the] European perspective”
The text is similar to that voted by the Russian Duma in 2012 to silence opponents of President Vladimir Putin. Which Mr. Kobakhidze denies. For him, without this law, Georgia “will share the fate of Ukraine.” This is the shocking argument of Georgian Dream, the ruling party, convinced that the European Union (EU) and the United States seek to exploit Georgia in order to “open a second front” against Russia in the Caucasus. .
This law “will be a serious obstacle for Georgia in its European perspective,” EU spokesperson Peter Stano said before the vote. Georgia has officially been a candidate for entry into the EU since December 2023. Public opinion has not been consulted, even though the consultation of political power with civil society is among the recommendations made by Brussels in the framework of Georgia’s application for membership, recognized in December 2023.