Georgia’s law on “foreign influence” was signed by the speaker of the country’s parliament, allowing the text to enter into force. For several weeks, the bill has caused great tension in the heart of the country. The latter must impose heavy administrative constraints on NGOs and media receiving at least 20% of their funding from abroad.
The Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Chalva Papouashvili, said on Monday that he had signed the law on “foreign influence” which sparked huge demonstrations, allowing it to come into force. “I signed today the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, the main aim of which is to strengthen the strength of Georgian social, economic and political systems,” Chalva Papuashvili said in a statement.
The law, inspired by a Russian repressive measure, imposes heavy administrative constraints on NGOs and media receiving at least 20% of their funding from abroad. It was definitively adopted by Parliament on May 28. The deputies of the ruling party, the Georgian Dream, in the majority in the hemicycle, then circumvented the veto of the pro-Western president Salomé Zourabichvili. Both the European Union and the United States denounced this text, warning Tbilisi that it would move it away from its officially stated objective of joining the European Union. In vain.
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The text brought thousands of demonstrators into the streets, who held a series of protest actions in front of Parliament for almost two months. Several media and NGOs have announced their intention to further challenge the text before the Georgian Constitutional Court, even if the latter is also controlled by the Georgian Dream, and the European Court of Human Rights. Some indicated that they would not comply with the constraints of the text.
The Georgian Dream, while saying it adheres to the objective of joining the EU and simply wants greater “transparency” in the financing of the media and NGOs, has multiplied since the war in Ukraine the decisions bringing Georgia closer to Moscow . The entry into force of the text comes five months before the legislative elections planned in this former Soviet republic of the Caucasus, seen as a key test for democracy in this country.