The EU is still not ready to accept Georgia. When that time comes, however, local authorities will be able to review the law on foreign agents. This was stated by the chairman of the ruling party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia", former Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili.
„If they tell us that tomorrow we will become members of the European Union, then it will be very easy to repeal (note ed. the law on foreign agents), revise it, revise it or adopt a new one”, Garibashvili told reporters
As the politician added, Georgia reached its peak in relations with the European Union when it received the status of a candidate for EU membership in December 2023. After that, negotiations on joining the European Union began, but there is still no consensus between the countries of the community regarding the membership of the republic.
On April 17, the Parliament of Georgia approved the first reading of the bill on foreign agents in a plenary session. The president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, the opposition and Western diplomats, who saw it as an obstacle to the republic's integration into the European Union, spoke out against it. Since the beginning of the week, the opposition and civil activists have held rallies in Tbilisi against this document. Sometimes the protests turn into clashes with the police. The police are detaining people.
The ruling party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" at the beginning of April announced the decision to re-submit the draft law "On the transparency of foreign influence" to the parliament. This comes a year after a similar initiative led to mass protests, forcing the authorities to abandon the bill. Its text remained the same as last year, except for the term “agent of foreign influence”. Instead, the term “organization that protects the interests of a foreign power“ is used.