Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili proposes to postpone the date of entry into force of the law on “foreign agents” until November 1, that is, after parliamentary elections are held in the country.
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On the night of May 12-13, opponents of the bill will hold another mass rally and remain outside parliament until the morning. Tomorrow morning a meeting of the Legal Committee of the Georgian Parliament is scheduled to take place, at which the draft will be discussed in the third reading.
According to the opposition, the bill repeats Russian legislation. Georgian law forces media and organizations with foreign capital to report, and also gives the Ministry of Justice the right to conduct inspections with subsequent fines.
This law is Russian, the methods of our government are Russian, and even today’s speech of the Prime Minister is Russian,” Zurabishvili said.
The day before, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that the supposed bill on “foreign agents” was supported by 60% of citizens. At the same time, protesters announced a large-scale demonstration that will begin on May 12 at 22.00.
Kobakhidze is ready to revise some provisions of the law on “foreign agents”. This was reported by NGnewsgeorgia.
He believes that the authorities will be able to “reconcile positions” with Western partners on the controversial law on “foreign agents.”
I see positive changes, particularly after the last meetings. “I have the impression that now there is a willingness to discuss the norms of the law,” Kobakhidze said.
According to him, a compromise in this case could be the vetoing of the law by Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. It is noted that after the bill is rejected, she will have to send her motivated comments to parliament.
Here our partners will be forced to make specific comments and have them reflected in the president’s veto. You know that when a veto comes to parliament, it must be formulated in the form of a specific bill. Here the duty is to offer something concrete,” Kobakhidze said.
According to him, by this point the Georgian authorities will be “completely open” and “ready for discussion.” At the same time, he made it clear that Georgian Dream would not agree to drastic changes, for example, changing the name of the law or introducing a status for organizations. For now, the party authorities are only ready to revise some technical details.
Source: Racurs
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