The World Briefly

April 10, 2024

Into the Folds

Georgia

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Groups of demonstrators protested in front of Georgia’s parliament this week against a controversial bill that would allow the government to crack down on civil society organizations by labeling them “foreign agents,” a move that threatens to harm the country’s chances of joining the European Union (EU), Politico reported.

The protest followed a decision by the ruling Georgian Dream party to reintroduce a bill it had shelved last year following mass protests and an international outcry. Under the proposed law, an organization receiving 20 percent or more of its funding from abroad would have to register as an “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power,” and face strict administrative rules.

Opponents call it the “Russian law” because it mirrors similar legislation passed by Moscow to silence public dissent in recent years.

The bill has become an illustration of the divisions over Georgia’s EU stance: Last year’s protests that forced the government to scrap the law’s first version were symbolized by an image of a woman waving the European flag against water cannons.

In December 2023, the EU granted Georgia EU candidate status, but said certain conditions had to be met before its candidacy could advance. The “foreign agents” law has since strained relations between Tbilisi and Brussels. The bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borell, said it was “incompatible with EU values and standards.”

The bill’s reintroduction could signal a strategy by Georgian Dream to sabotage the country’s EU membership chances, RFE/RL wrote. Georgia has notably shifted towards the Kremlin since the beginning of the Ukraine war, despite its experience with Russia taking over its territory in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia, where over 1,000 people sit in jail for political reasons, applauded the Georgian government’s move to curb “interference from other countries in domestic policies.”

Georgia’s President Salomé Zourabichvili, a former French diplomat, said she would veto the legislation to delay it, Euractiv reported. However, the government can override her veto.

This story originally appeared in the April 10, 2024 newsletter, The Third Wheel.