In Georgia, the controversial bill targeting NGOs and the media, which has sparked massive protests that have been harshly repressed for the past two days, has finally been withdrawn by the ruling party. This bill adopted Tuesday in first reading provided that NGOs and media receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad are obliged to register as “foreign agents”, under penalty of a fine .
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.
Abandoned, but not buried
For its critics, this text was 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 press release, the Georgian Dream party considers that the bill has been “misrepresented in a bad light”, adding that it would launch public consultations to “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.
The demonstrations which shook Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday are part of a broader context of political crisis in this Caucasian country, which officially aims to join the EU and NATO. The delegation of the European Union in Georgia for its part welcomed Thursday the announcement of the withdrawal of this text.
“We welcome the ruling party’s announcement of the withdrawal of the ‘foreign influence’ bill,” the EU delegation in Tbilisi said on Twitter. “We encourage all political leaders in Georgia to resume pro-European reforms,” she added.