The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili announced that she vetoed the controversial law on "foreign influence" that caused mass protests in the country, reported France Press, quoted by BTA.
"Today I am vetoing (...) a law that is Russian in nature and contradicts our constitution,'' Zurabishvili said after the text passed by parliament this week was condemned by his opponents as aimed at diverting Georgia from its path to Europe and to direct it to Russia.
The so-called "Russian law", whose opponents have been protesting its passage for weeks, requires media outlets and NGOs that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "advancing the interests of a foreign power". Critics of the bill say it is too similar to legislation used by the Kremlin to silence opponents and that it would hinder Georgia's bid to join the EU, the Associated Press reported.
Zourabishvili, who has been locked in an increasingly bitter confrontation with Georgia's ruling party, said today that the law contradicted Georgia's constitution and "all European standards," adding that it "must be repealed." .
The ruling party "Georgian Dream" has enough of a majority to override the presidential veto and is expected to do so in the coming days. The Georgian government says the law aims to promote transparency and curb what it says is harmful foreign influence in the country of 3.7 million people.
/DI/
Source: www.bta.bg