The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the law on "foreign agents" repeatedly introduced by the ruling Georgian Dream in parliament, which the ruling party rejected last year due to mass protests.
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“Georgian authorities' revival of a bill that would smear media outlets as foreign-controlled is deeply concerning and utterly incompatible with their claim of aligning with European democratic standards and threatens press freedom ahead of the October parliamentary elections.
The ruling Georgian Dream party should withdraw the law and renounce any form of ‘foreign agent’ legislation if Georgia wants to succeed in its bid to join the European Union,” says Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York.
According to CPJ, the "Foreign Influence Transparency" bill requires non-profit organizations and media outlets that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register and submit detailed annual financial reports; otherwise, they will be fined 25,000 GEL.
“A statement published on the party’s Facebook page said the bill is largely identical to a bill with the same name dropped by parliament in March 2023 following widespread protests. The only change is that the term “agent of foreign influence” has been replaced by that of “organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
Georgian Dream, which controls a parliamentary majority, vowed in its statement to pass the law by the end of the current parliamentary session in June. The party’s majority is large enough to override Georgia’s president, who previously said she would veto it.
The proposed law, which was previously criticized by CPJ, is similar to Russia’s foreign agent legislation, except that it does not currently require media outlets to label their publications as produced by a foreign agent.
On Tuesday, Kyrgyzstan ratified a Russia-style foreign agents law requiring some nonprofit media organizations to register as “foreign representatives” and label their publications as produced or distributed by a foreign representative,” The Committee to Protect Journalists stated.
Georgian Dream intends to have the parliament adopt the Russian law on so-called foreign agents in all three readings by the end of the current session, which it rejected in March 2023 due to protests and international pressure. The text of the draft law will remain the same, with only the term "agent of foreign influence" being replaced by "organization carrying the interests of a foreign power." Mamuka Mdinaradze, the executive secretary of Georgian Dream, emphasized that even in the event of a larger protest than last year, the bill will not be withdrawn.
