"Don't count on me to enter this game to honor this law. No. It is Russian, it will remain Russian, and unfortunately, you will also remain Russian with this law," - This is how the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, responded to the ruling Georgian Dream and Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's statement that in case of receiving legal remarks within the veto, it is possible to reconcile the positions regarding the Russian Law.
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"Suddenly, they remembered the president and her veto. Do you remember the president whom the prime minister... it is completely unthinkable in any state, let alone civilized, in the state - the prime minister called the president a traitor in front of his own army, the army of this country. There was no more incredible coup than this. They say to this president, 'let's present a veto to us, write something in it, they will write for you, you can't write, but others will write for you, either foreigners or local NGOs, and present it to us and maybe we will think about it.' You think and you are.
I will definitely present a veto, but I will not engage in any such manipulation and will not start these games, because this has only one reason and purpose: to introduce misunderstanding and confusion among people. Do you want to change something in this law? It is up to you to either recall it or return it to the second hearing and listen to the opposition in the parliament, which I am sure will offer you comments and changes," Zourabichvili said at the briefing held today, May 12.
In addition, the President proposed to the Georgian Dream to move the deadline for the implementation of the law to November 1 after the elections. "Whoever comes to power, they will decide whether this law is Russian, is a copy of other laws, or whatever," said Salome Zourabichvili.
The Georgian Dream is set to pass the third and final reading of the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents tomorrow and the day after. On Monday, it will be discussed and supported at the meeting of the Committee on Legal Issues, and on Tuesday, the law is scheduled to be brought to the plenary session.
As Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said, within the framework of the veto procedure, it is possible to reconcile the positions regarding the law from May 14 to 28.
"I explained to our partners that positions can be reconciled within the veto procedure. We know that Salome Zourabichvili does not write her own veto bills. Either NGOs write it for her, or someone abroad writes. Therefore, we can use this lever again. It is possible to use the veto procedure to reconcile our positions on this bill. Here, our partners will be forced to present concrete remarks and reflect them in the president's veto," said Kobakhidze.
To the journalist's question of whether Georgian Dream is ready to make changes in the draft law, the Prime Minister answered: "Of course. So what's the point of the discussion? We will receive legal notices, and we are talking about sharing that."
7 political parties responded to Irakli Kobakhidze's statement. In a joint statement, they note that the ruling party is trying to mislead Georgian society and international partners. They are not going to accept the "embellished version" of the Russian Law. "This law is not subject to improvement and must be withdrawn unconditionally," the opposition claims.
