Georgia’s president vetoes controversial ‘foreign influence’ law
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The legislation has sparked a wave of protests unprecedented in the recent history of Georgia, where opinion polls show more than 80 per cent of the population wants to join the European Union and Nato.
PHOTO: AFP
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TBILISI - Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili on May 18 put a mostly symbolic veto on the “foreign influence” law that sparked unprecedented protests and warnings from Brussels that the measure would undermine Tbilisi’s European aspirations.
Ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers voted through the legislation this week in defiance of protesters, who are worried the ex-Soviet republic is shifting away from a pro-Western course back towards Russia.
The move has sparked a wave of protests unprecedented in the recent history of the Black Sea nation,
“Today I set a veto... on the law, which is Russian in its essence, and which contradicts our constitution,” she said, in a televised statement, speaking about the Bill that critics describe as resembling Russian legislation used to silence dissent.
Brussels has said the measure is “incompatible” with Georgia’s bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in the country’s constitution.
European Council chief Charles Michel said on X, formerly Twitter, that the veto offered “a moment for further reflection”.
He called on lawmakers to “make good use of this window of opportunity” to keep Georgia on its EU path.
Georgian Dream has enough lawmakers in Parliament to override her veto.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has signalled his party’s readiness to consider Ms Zurabishvili’s proposed amendments to the law, should she lay them out in her veto document.
But figurehead president Ms Zurabishvili – at loggerheads with the ruling party – has ruled out the prospect of entering “false, artificial, misleading negotiations” with Georgian Dream.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili (centre) walking in support of her country’s membership of the EU, in Tbilisi, in December 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The Bill requires NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad to register as bodies “pursuing the interests of a foreign power”.
Georgian Dream insists it is committed to joining the EU, and portrays the Bill as aimed at increasing the transparency of NGO funding. AFP
