Georgia\u2019s parliament is set to pass a highly controversial so-called \u201cforeign agents\u201d bill that has triggered widespread protests across the former Soviet republic nestled in the Caucasus Mountains. <\/p>\n
The vote comes after tens of thousands of people came out to protest the legislation in the capital, Tbilisi. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know about the proposed law and the uproar it has caused. <\/p>\n
The bill would require organizations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as \u201cagents of foreign influence\u201d or face crippling fines. <\/p>\n
The legislation was drafted by the Georgian Dream party, which along with its allies controls parliament. The proposal will receive a vote on Tuesday and it is expected to pass. <\/p>\n
She has vowed to veto the bill, but that won\u2019t mean much. Georgia\u2019s government is a parliamentary system, so Zourabichvili is effectively a figurehead. Real power lies with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. Georgian Dream\u2019s billionaire founder, former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, also wields significant political influence. <\/p>\n
A couple of reasons. <\/p>\n
The proposed law is modeled after a similar one in Russia that the Kremlin has used to increasingly snuff out opposition and civil society. Many Georgians fear their foreign agents bill will be used to the same way it has been in its northern neighbor: to quash dissent and free expression by going after nongovernmental organizations with financial ties overseas. <\/p>\n
Georgian Dream contends the legislation will promote transparency and national sovereignty and has hit back at Western criticism over the proposal. <\/p>\n
But the law\u2019s possible passage has touched on a more existential question: whether Georgia\u2019s future lies with Europe or Russia. <\/p>\n
Georgia has, like Ukraine, been caught between the two geopolitical forces since achieving independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. <\/p>\n
Many Georgians feel deep hostility toward the Kremlin, which invaded Georgia in 2008 and occupies about 20% of its internationally recognized territory \u2013 about the same proportion that Russia occupies in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Georgian Dream has long been accused of harboring pro-Russian sympathies, especially given that Ivanishvili made his fortune in the Soviet Union. <\/p>\n
Passionately. So much so that lawmakers at one point came to blows over the bill. <\/p>\n
Polling shows that about 80% of Georgians support joining the European Union rather than drifting further into the Kremlin\u2019s orbit, and many of those in favor of deepening ties with the West have taken to the streets. <\/p>\n
Mass demonstrations against the bill in Tbilisi have been going on nightly for a month. About 50,000 people came out Sunday evening in the capital, which is home to about 1 million people, to speak out against what they\u2019ve dubbed \u201cthe Russian law.\u201d <\/p>\n
There have been counter-protests as well. One saw the reclusive Ivanishvili deliver a rare speech to a crowd of supporters bussed in to Tbilisi from Georgia\u2019s rural regions, where Georgian Dream enjoys more support. <\/p>\n
The address showed deep paranoia and an autocratic streak. Ivanishvili claimed that Georgia was being controlled by \u201ca pseudo-elite nurtured by a foreign country\u201d and pledged to go after his political opponents after October\u2019s elections. <\/p>\n
Yes, just last year. <\/p>\n
Georgia\u2019s government tried to pass the same law but was forced into an embarrassing climbdown after a week of intense <\/strong>protests, which saw citizens waving EU flags buffeted back by water cannons. <\/p>\n The bill was reintroduced in March, about a month after Kobakhidze became Prime Minister. This time, authorities seem determined to push the legislation through. <\/p>\n White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote on X that Washington is \u201cdeeply alarmed about democratic backsliding in Georgia.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cGeorgian parliamentarians face a critical choice \u2013 whether to support the Georgian people\u2019s Euro-Atlantic aspirations or pass a Kremlin-style foreign agents\u2019 law that runs counter to democratic values,\u201d he said. \u201cWe stand with the Georgian people.\u201d <\/p>\n The Kremlin has claimed that the law was being used to \u201cprovoke anti-Russian sentiments,\u201d adding that protests against it were being stirred by \u201coutside\u201d influences. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is now the normal practice of a huge number of states that are doing everything to protect themselves from outside influence, from foreign influence on domestic politics. And all countries are taking action in one form or another, but all these bills have the same goal,\u201d Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in April. \u201cOnce again, there is no way to link this bill and the desire to secure Georgia\u2019s internal politics with some kind of Russian influence; this is not the case.\u201d <\/p>\n European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement earlier this month that she was following the developments in George with \u201cgreat concern\u201d and reiterated Brussels\u2019 unease over the law. <\/p>\n \u201cGeorgia is at a crossroads. It should stay the course on the road to Europe,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Definitely. <\/p>\n Georgia first applied for EU membership in 2022 and was granted candidate status in December, an important but still early step in the process of becoming a member of the bloc. However, Brussels said last month that the law\u2019s passage would \u201cnegatively impact\u201d Georgia\u2019s path to EU membership <\/p>\n \u201cGeorgia has a vibrant civil society that contributes to the country\u2019s successful progress towards EU membership. The proposed legislation would limit the capacity of civil society and media organizations to operate freely, could limit freedom of expression and unfairly stigmatize organizations that deliver benefits to the citizens of Georgia,\u201d EU officials said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe EU urges Georgia to refrain from adopting legislation that can compromise Georgia\u2019s EU path, a path supported by the overwhelming majority of Georgian citizens.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Georgia\u2019s parliament is set to pass a highly controversial so-called \u201cforeign agents\u201d bill that has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} What have other countries said?<\/h2>\n
Could the law impact Georgia\u2019s ability to join the EU?<\/h2>\n