- In Georgia, the planned so-called “agent law” has caused mass protests on the streets in recent weeks.
- Parliament voted in favor of the law at the beginning of the week.
- Now Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has vetoed it, as various news agencies report.
For months, thousands of people have been demonstrating in the Georgian capital Tbilisi against a government law proposal: All media and NGOs that receive over 20 percent of their finances from abroad would be registered as “representatives of a foreign power” and would have to meet strict new requirements.
Opponents see this as an attempt to stifle Georgian civil society – and as a threat to Georgia’s path to the EU. The Georgian parliament passed the law on Tuesday afternoon, and massive protests in the country continued.
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In 2018, Salome Zurabishvili became the first woman to be elected head of state of Georgia.
REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
President Salome Zurabichvili, who has increasingly fallen out with the Georgian ruling party, now told the media that the law contradicts the Georgian constitution and “all European standards” and must be “abolished”. She is vetoing it.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has a sufficient majority to override Zurabichvili’s veto. She is widely expected to do so in the coming days. The party insists the law is intended to promote transparency and curb what it sees as harmful foreign influence.