After widespread protests broke out in the country, the ruling party of Georgia has announced that it will not advance the controversial bill on «foreign agents», writes the BBC.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tbilisi to show their anger at the bill being pushed through parliament. It provided that any organization receiving more than 20% of its funding from foreign countries would have to register in the list of «foreign agents».
The ruling party of Georgia has announced that it will withdraw the bill without additional conditions. The party will withdraw the bill to avoid dividing society.
Georgia has applied for the status of a candidate country of the European Union and also wants to join NATO. EU officials have condemned the bill as incompatible with the bloc’s values. The EU delegation in Georgia stated in a statement that the refusal to advance the draft law for approval was a much-awaited decision and encouraged the Georgian government to continue with European-oriented reforms.
The government changed its position after protests and clashes with the authorities took place in the national capital. Tear gas and water cannons were used to disperse the demonstrators.
In an official statement, the ruling party of Georgia informed that it believes that the draft law has been unfairly labeled as pro-Russian, and said that when emotions subside, it will explain the meaning of such a law and the need for transparency of funding sources. Meanwhile, opposition parties are demanding more detailed explanations of how the bill is planned to be cancelled, and are calling for the release of all detained protesters.
The party of the Prime Minister of Georgia insists that the draft law is modeled after the US laws of the 1930s. In Russia, a similar law has gradually become stricter and is currently very repressive against independent media, NGOs, journalists and bloggers.
Transparency International’s representative in Georgia, Eka Gigauri, told the BBC that NGOs are already subject to ten different laws in the country, and the Finance Ministry already has full access to their accounts, funding sources and other information.
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