In Georgia, deputies adopt at first reading a controversial law on “foreign influence”

Voted. The Georgian Parliament adopted at first reading, Wednesday April 17, a controversial text on “foreign influence”. Compared by its detractors to a repressive Russian law on “foreign agents”, the text is at the origin of major demonstrations across the country. According to the demonstrators, this legislation is repressive and could threaten the rapprochement of Georgia, the former Soviet republic of the Caucasus, with the European Union.

In a vote boycotted by the opposition, the ruling Georgian Dream Party voted 83-0 in favor of the bill. Two other readings should follow, a process which could take weeks, especially since Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili, pro-European and in conflict with the government, could then veto. But the deputies close to power have a sufficient majority to overcome it.

If the text is passed, organizations which receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad will be obliged to register as“organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power”, under penalty of fines. For its part, the EU, which granted Georgia candidate status in December, asked for the text to be abandoned. She believes that it goes against the reform program that the country must undertake to progress on the path to membership.