Parliament passes a foreign agents law overriding President’s veto

Tbilisi: As expected  the parliament has overridden the president’s veto and adopted the controversial foreign agent law. The parliament dominated by the Georgian Dream party  gained 66 votes in favor of rejecting the veto.

Later on 84 MPs voted in favor of the bill  paving the way for its implementation. On the other hand MPs from opposition parties left the parliament building before the voting in protest.    The law  often called Russian law by opponents  was passed by the Georgian Dream-led government despite the USA’s threats of individual sanctions and Brussels’ warning that it could impede Georgia’s integration into the European Union.

According to the opponents of the law  this will stifle independent media voices and return the country to Russian influence. Moreover  it will also violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression.  As per the legal provision  the bill will now again be sent to the President for assent within a five-day time period. However  as expected  she can again veto the bill; in that scenario  the speaker of Parliament  who is the bill’s supporter can sign the bill to give it the force of law.

Notably despite the immediate implementation  the key provision of law will not be implemented till the lapse of 60 days. In the next month  after 60 days  the receiver of foreign funding  more than 20 percent of their total funding   has to register themself as the institutions pursuing foreign interests.  If an organization refuses to register  the law authorizes the authorities to impose a heavy penalty and demand sensitive data from non-obeying institutions.

On the other hand  concerns are being expressed that there could be economic chaos in the country following the announcement of sanctions from many countries. The National Bank of Georgia is already struggling to overcome the instability of Georgian Lari. Due to this fear  many businessmen including those who supported the Georgian Dream Government  opposed the law.