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In parliament, where the ruling party and the law’s author, the Georgian Senators, hold a majority, the president’s veto was overruled by a vote of 66 deputies, with a minimum of 50 required. Deputies subsequently voted in favor of the law in 2017. In its original form, it was supported by 84 of the required 76 deputies.
Three of the 150 members of parliament voiced opposition. The parliamentary session was not without controversy, with a member of the Georgian Dream party throwing water at the main opposition representative.
The government enforced laws that obliged news media and nongovernmental organizations to register as foreign-influenced organizations if they received no more than 20 percent of their budgets from abroad.
President Zurab Vililov and critics fear the law will restrict freedom of expression and the press, seeing it as an obstacle on the path to the European Union.
The law was also called for by the European Union and NATO, under which similar norms in Russia were cancelled. This will make her a harsh critic of the Kremlin. The Georgian Dream Law is a means of clarifying financial organizations.
The rejection of the draft law was one of the biggest protests Georgia has faced since it declared independence in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Georgians take to the streets again
Yesterday, people gathered in front of Parliament House to express their dissatisfaction with the parliament’s actions, with some calling government members slaves when the vote results were announced.
This day will decide the fate of the planet. “We are choosing between Europe and Russia, and everyone who moved here today – except the police – wants Europe and the West,” said a student in front of the parliament in Tbilisi.
The protesters said, “We have witnessed with our own eyes how Georgian citizens, members of the Georgian parliament, are betraying our country,” the Associated Press said.
According to Reuters, the new law could affect several organizations, such as Tuka, one of the largest in the Georgian capital, which cares for about 50 stray dogs with the help of small donations, half of which come from abroad.
The only food we follow is the food of this dog. “I ask anyone to tell me which of them is taking benefits from outside the power,” said the operator of the living Buddha, saying that according to the administrative nature of the organization, the new norms will lead to more expenses and less income.
Tanagoma, whose organisation helps drug addicts and HIV patients and runs a rehabilitation clinic, is concerned about further action. He believes the foreign influence law should block foreign workers who make up half of its revenue.
The EU and the US condemned the bill’s approval
The EU and the US condemned the Georgian parliament’s decision. Josep Borrell said in his report “United Diplomacy” that the norm violates the EU’s fundamental principles and values and will have a negative impact on the pro-European ambitions of the Caucasus countries.
Adoption of the law would cause Georgia to back off from at least the nine steps recommended by the European Commission to obtain candidate country status and would have a negative impact on its path to EU membership, he said in a statement.
Among them, EU diplomacy also called on the Georgian team to move towards the EU.
The US State Department said Georgia’s move was moving away from European integration.
U.S. diplomat Matthew Miller said that with this law, the ruling Georgian Dream party is leading the country away from the path of European integration and ignoring the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of the Georgian people, who have taken to the streets for weeks to oppose the law.
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