Georgia’s parliament has allowed a final vote on a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the EU
The Georgian Parliament authorized the final vote on the “Russian law” on Monday the day after new demonstrations.
The bill requires media, NGOs and other non-profit organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
The opposition denounces the bill as “Russian law”as Moscow uses similar legislation to crack down on independent media, NGOs and activists who criticize the Kremlin.
The bill is almost identical to the one that the ruling Georgian Dream party was forced to withdraw last year, after a wave of protests.
The government says the bill is needed to stem what it sees as harmful foreign influence on the country’s politics and to prevent unspecified foreign actors from trying to destabilize it.
Demonstrations
Huge crowds marched on Europe Square in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday, with demonstrators wrapped in flags of Georgia and the European Union. On Sunday, protesters gathered in front of Parliament for a nighttime rally and attempted to block entrances to the building.
Police tried to disperse the demonstration, and by Monday morning only a few hundred people remained near Parliament. The Georgian Interior Ministry said 20 people were arrested in the morning, including three foreign citizens – two Americans and a Russian.
It took lawmakers less than a minute to give the green light to the third and final reading of the bill, scheduled for Tuesday.
Georgian President Salome Zurabichvili, at odds with the ruling party, has promised to veto the law, but Georgian Dream has a sufficient majority to override a presidential veto.