The Russian-inspired text could harm Georgia’s candidacy for the European Union and represent an authoritarian turn.
The ruling party in Georgia announced on Thursday March 9 the withdrawal of a controversial bill which has sparked massive protests that have been harshly repressed in this Caucasian country over the past two days. “As a party of government responsible to every member of society, we have decided to unconditionally withdraw this bill that we support.“said the Georgian Dream party in a statement posted on its website.
The European Union delegation in Georgia welcomed this decision on Thursday:We welcome the announcement by the ruling party to withdraw the “foreign influence” bill“said the European delegation in Tbilisi on Twitter. “We encourage all political leaders in Georgia to resume pro-European reforms“, she added.
Georgian opposition parties have announced that they will continue to demonstrate against the government despite the withdrawal. Mobilization “will not stop until there is a guarantee that Georgia is firmly on a pro-Western path“, they declared in a common voice, calling for new rallies Thursday evening and the release of dozens of protesters in detention.
A similar law in Russia
The announcement comes a day after massive protests in the capital Tbilisi saw police use tear gas canisters and water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of people gathered near parliament. The protest movement was triggered by the adoption on Tuesday March 7 at first reading of a bill providing that NGOs and media receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as ‘“foreign agents“, punishable by fine.
Police confront demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgia, March 8, 2023. ZURAB TSERTSVADZE / AFP
For its critics, this text is inspired by a similar law that exists in Russia where the Kremlin uses it to repress the independent press, human rights organizations and their opponents. In its statement, the Georgian Dream party believes that the bill has been “misrepresented in a bad light“, adding that he was going to launch public consultations for “better explain» the purpose of this text. The party in power is therefore not completely closing the door to a future return of this bill to Parliament.
Pro-Western aspirations
The demonstrations that shook Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday are part of a broader context of political crisis in this Caucasian country. This former Soviet republic, marked by a Russian military intervention in 2008, officially aims to join the EU and NATO, a direction taken after the “rose revolutionfrom 2003.
This revolution had brought to power the pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili, who is now in prison from where he denounces political revenge. But several recent measures of the current government, such as the draft law on “foreign agentscast doubt on the maintenance of pro-Western aspirations, with the opposition accusing him of supporting Moscow.
TO HAVE ALSO – US sources suggest that the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines may have been carried out by a “pro-Ukrainian group»