the adoption of the law on “foreign agents” may close Georgia’s path to the EU

The adoption of a law on so-called foreign agents in Georgia could become an obstacle to the country’s accession to the European Union. About it stated German Chancellor’s representative Christiane Hoffmann. She recalled that last year the European Union already demanded that Georgia abandon the bill, and the country’s leadership promised to remove it from the agenda.

The German Foreign Ministry took a similar position. His press secretary Sebastian Fischer statedthat the law on “foreign agents,” if adopted, could become a tool of pressure on the independent press, and freedom of the press is one of the foundations of any democracy and a prerequisite for joining the European Union.

Fischer indicated that if the bill is adopted, the EU countries will hold a series of consultations among themselves, as a result of which Georgia may lose the chance to join the union.

German media suggest that the draft Georgian law on “foreign agents” will become one of the topics for discussion during visit to Germany by the new Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze. It is scheduled for April 12.

A bill establishing the status of so-called foreign agents in Georgia was first introduced into the country’s parliament last spring. It was adopted in the first reading, but rejected in the second after mass protests. The Foreign Influence Transparency Act would require any organization that receives 20% or more foreign funding to officially register as a “foreign agent.” Critics of the document, joined by President Salome Zurabishvili, argued that the bill was modeled on the Russian one, which the Kremlin uses to fight independent civil organizations and dissidents.

On April 3 this year, the ruling Georgian Dream party announced that it would reintroduce the bill to parliament. According to the leader of the Georgian Dream parliamentary faction, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the text of the bill will remain unchanged, only the term “agent of foreign influence” will be replaced by “an organization pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”

Initiative to adopt the law condemned US State Department. Against her with a single statement spoke Georgian political opposition.

• Georgia received candidate status for joining the European Union at the end of 2023.