Georgian President Vetoes Controversial 'Foreign Agents' Law

The President of Georgia vetoed the 'Foreign Agents' law, which limits the activities of media and human rights organizations funded from abroad in the country. Salome Zourabichvili announced on Saturday, May 18, that by vetoing the 'Foreign Agents' bill in Parliament, where the ruling party 'Georgian Dream' holds the majority of seats, this legislation contradicts the Constitution of Georgia and European standards. She had warned the day before that she would veto the new parliamentary law, which was passed despite widespread public protests, as it targets 'democracy and freedom of expression.' The ruling party 'Georgian Dream' has enough majority to override President Zourabichvili's veto, and it is expected to do so in the coming days. According to the recent parliamentary resolution, the 'Foreign Agents' law requires non-governmental organizations that receive at least 20% of their funding from foreign countries to register as 'foreign agents.' Reports indicate that hundreds of NGOs working in various fields, including media, freedom of expression, minority rights, agriculture, education, etc., will be included under this law. A similar law was implemented in Russia in 2012, which became a pretext for the widespread suppression of human rights organizations and independent media in Russia. The Georgian government insists that the aim of this law is to promote 'transparency' and curb what it calls 'harmful foreign influence,' but in recent weeks, there have been widespread public protests against the 'Foreign Agents' bill, which faced severe government repression. The United States, the European Union, and international human rights organizations have strongly opposed this bill. The opposition party, the National Movement of Georgia, has accused the ruling party 'Georgian Dream' of trying to pull the country into Russia's sphere of influence. Senior officials of the ruling party in Georgia have taken a strongly anti-Western stance in recent months, and the United States has warned the country not to follow Russia. Relations between Tbilisi and Moscow have been tense since 2008 following Russia's occupation of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia.