The text of the forthcoming bill is almost identical to the text of the document that was withdrawn from parliament a year ago due to the protests.
The ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party will reintroduce the Foreign Agents Bill to Parliament with the same wording as in 2023, except for the term “agent of foreign influence.”
According to Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority and Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream, the term “an organization conducting the interests of a foreign influence” will be used instead.
The only requirement for such organizations will be annual financial reporting. The ruling party plans to adopt the bill in three readings before the end of the spring session of parliament.
In March 2023, the draft law on foreign agents has already been submitted to the Georgian parliament for consideration. Then it managed to pass in the first reading, which caused thousands of protests that turned into clashes with the police. President Salome Zurabishvili supported the protesters, and soon the bill was withdrawn from Parliament.
It also recently became known that Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov signed a law on “foreign agents” that is very similar to the Russian law, which the Kremlin uses as a mechanism of repression.
