Georgia's ruling party said it was dropping a bill on ‘foreign agents’ after two nights of violent protests against it amid criticism the draft was inspired by a Russian law and represented an authoritarian shift
Participants march during a protest against a draft law on "foreign agents", which critics say represents an authoritarian shift and could hurt Georgia's bid to join the European Union, in Tbilisi, Georgia, March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Irakli Gedenidze
TBILISI, March 9 - Georgia's ruling party said on Thursday it was dropping a bill on "foreign agents" after two nights of violent protests against it amid criticism the draft was inspired by a Russian law and represented an authoritarian shift. The Georgian Dream ruling party said in a statement it would "unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations". It cited the need to reduce "confrontation" in society.
The bill would have required Georgian organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents" or face fines. Georgian Dream had previously said the law was necessary to unmask critics of the Georgian Orthodox Church, one of the country's most powerful institutions.
Opponents of the bill, including Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who said she would veto it if it crossed her desk, have compared it to a 2012 Russian law, which has been used to clamp down on dissent. The Georgian government says the legislation is modelled on U.S. foreign agent laws, in place since the 1930s.
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