Georgia wants to repeal the agent law

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After massive protests over the past few days, Georgia’s ruling party wants to repeal the controversial “agents law”, the ruling party Georgian Dream announced. With this law, media must in future be classified as “foreign agents” if they are financed more than 20 percent from abroad.

Parliament passed the controversial law with a majority on Tuesday. This led to violent protests in the capital Tbilisi. According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, there were as many as 130 arrests in two days. The photos shocked – and probably had an effect.

“Dark day for Georgian democracy”

Even Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili (70) opposed her party and sided with the protesters: “I stand with you because you represent free Georgia today.” Speaking of the Georgian Dream MPs, she said: “Anyone who voted for this bill is breaking the constitution.” A little later, she announced that she would cut short her visit to the United States due to developments in Georgia.

Following Tuesday’s parliamentary decision, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell (75) issued a statement declaring that the law was “incompatible with the values ​​of the EU” and contradicted Georgia’s stated goal to join the EU. The US response was even harsher. Her embassy in Tbilisi spoke of a “dark day for Georgian democracy”. The “Kremlin-inspired law” harms Georgia’s relations with its “strategic partners”.

For observers, however, the struggle for democracy in Georgia is far from over. Eto Buziashvili, Georgia expert at the Atlantic Council, tweeted: “However, the reality remains the same: the ruling party wants to bring Georgia closer to Russia and further away from the West.” The opposition has already announced that it will continue fighting.

Because these protests are about much more than the law, the wording of which is already known from Russia. It is about the fundamental question of where the country is developing: towards the EU, NATO, the West – or towards an authoritarian regime à la Vladimir Putin (70)?

Gap between politics and population

The current leadership of the Georgian Dream Party is following a pro-Russian course. However, the majority of Georgians want their country to join the EU and NATO. They fear that this opportunity will be destroyed by authoritarian rules such as those in Moscow. A gap between politicians and the people.

Doubts about the Western orientation of the government have long existed among the Georgian population. And the Georgian Dream has been fueling anti-Western resentment for years and gives freedom to right-wing extremists and pro-Russian groups, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, politicians have increasingly openly used anti-Western rhetoric. It is alleged that the West wants to open a “second front” against Russia in Georgia using the Georgian opposition as an instrument. It is only thanks to the government that the country has not yet become a battleground.

The fact that Georgia – unlike Moldova and Ukraine – was not granted candidate status for EU membership in June last year was also labeled by the party in the EU parliament as an anti-Georgian conspiracy. However, the rejection of the application was justified in detail: deterioration in the rule of law and media freedom and disproportionate influence of private individuals on politics – all incidents incompatible with a democracy.

Source: Blick