Georgia may repeal scandalous law if it gets invited to EU
Irakli Garibashvili, head of Georgia's ruling party (photo: Getty Images)
The head of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Garibashvili, admits that the law on foreign agents, which has been criticized by the country's population and the European Union, should be repealed or revised.
"If we are told that tomorrow we will become a member of the European Union, it will be very easy to cancel, revise, rework or adopt a new law," Garibashvili told reporters.
At the same time, Garibashvili said that the approval of the scandalous law would not affect the pace of Georgia's accession to the EU, as Brussels is allegedly "not ready for enlargement" at the moment. The head of the ruling party explained that relations between Tbilisi and Brussels "reached a maximum" last December, when Georgia was granted candidate status for EU membership.
Law on foreign agents in Georgia
In mid-April, the Georgian parliament passed in the first reading a scandalous bill on "foreign agents" that sparked mass protests in the country. The document was supported by 83 deputies, with no one voting against it.
The Georgian bill was borrowed from Russia. It requires organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence. If they refuse, they will be fined. The opposition fears that this could restrict the rights of citizens and affect Georgia's European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, has already warned Tbilisi that the approval of the law will negatively affect Georgia's progress towards the EU, as it does not meet the basic norms and values of the European Union.
NATO also criticized the actions of the Georgian authorities. They said that Georgia has taken a step back on its path to NATO integration.
