Georgia’s ruling party said Friday it would replace a widely criticised law on “foreign influence” with a direct copy of a US law, after months of protests and rising anger.
The country framed a law last year that forced NGOs and media organisations to register as “organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they received at least a fifth of their funding from abroad.
The measure sparked daily street protests, Western condemnation and a presidential veto, with critics accusing the government of targeting its opponents with rules that were inspired by a Russian law used to stifle dissent.
The ruling Georgian Dream party said on Friday it intended to replace the law with “the exact, word-for-word copy” of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
FARA obliges lobbyists and lawyers to declare if they are working on behalf of foreign interests — though media organisations are exempt.
The party did not give a reason for the move, saying only that it was acting following “the recent scandals on the use of foreign funding for political turmoil in Georgia”.
Such language is typically used to accuse, without evidence, the West of financing a “revolution” in the Black Sea country.
Tbilisi has been in political turmoil since Georgian Dream won October parliamentary elections rejected as false by the opposition, and then shelved EU accession talks with Brussels until 2028.
Hundreds of protesters, as well as several rights activists, journalists, and politicians have been arrested in daily street protests.
Rights activists have denounced what they say is a mounting campaign of repression by the government.
In power since 2012, Georgian Dream has faced increasing accusations of democratic backsliding and leading Georgia away from the West and closer to Moscow.
The party insists it is committed to Georgia’s European aspirations and said the original law was aimed at ensuring “transparency” around Western-funded groups it accused of undermining country’s sovereignty.
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