Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili assumes that the country’s President Salome Zourabichvili will not sign the law on foreign agents, so he would do it himself instead of her, Imedinews reports.
He reminded that the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” was sent to the Presidential Administration the day before, on May 28. Papuashvili told a press conference:
“Now we are waiting for the signature. It is clear that with a high degree of probability she (Zourabichvili) will not sign it. Accordingly, I will sign this law.”
Earlier, the Georgian parliament passed a draft law on foreign agents, but on May 18 Zourabichvili vetoed it because she considered the document “Russian” and unconstitutional. The EU said the adoption of the law could hinder the republic’s entry into the association. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused Zourabichvili of treason, while Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, promised to override the veto.
On 26 May, a “Freedom and Protest” march of many thousands took place in Tbilisi, with participants opposing the government’s actions. People shouted slogans and sang songs while waving Georgian and EU flags. The wave of demonstrations against the law on foreign agents in Tbilisi has not subsided since mid-April, one of the protests was attended by the foreign ministers of Iceland, Lithuania and Estonia.
Foreign Agents Bill in the US and the EU
However, the US has had its own law on foreign agents since the first half of the 20th century. The 32nd President of the US, Franklin Roosevelt, signed the American Foreign Agents Act into law in the summer of 1938. The law required foreign agents representing the interests of foreign powers in a “political or quasi-political capacity” to disclose their relationship with the government of another country.
EU countries also have similar laws. On 27 March 2024, the French National Assembly approved a bill on the prevention of foreign interference. According to the bill, France should have its own register of foreign agents.
