On Wednesday, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, he announced which will re-present the disputed bill on “foreign agents”, withdrawn last year after huge protests especially in the capital, Tbilisi. Mamuka Mdinaradze, party secretary, said that the new bill will be substantially identical to the previous one: in the text the formula “agent of foreign influence” will be replaced by “organization that supports the interests of a foreign power”, but the rest some text should instead remain unchanged.
If passed by parliament, the “foreign agents” law would require Georgian organizations that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” or face sanctions. It is an extremely contested proposal because it is very similar to a law in force in Russia since 2012, used in recent years to repress dissent, hinder the work of independent media and in some cases cause their closure. According to Georgian Dream, which together with the other Power to the People party controls parliament, the proposed law is necessary to manage funding for organizations active in Georgia with more transparency.
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