Georgian parliament speaker enacts controversial ‘foreign agents law’

Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday signed the controversial “foreign agents bill” into law, News.Az reports citing Georgian media.

A law in Georgia must be signed by the Georgian president for it to come into force. However, if the president refuses to sign the law, it’s sent to the Parliament speaker. Given President Salome Zurabishvili’s strong stance against the agents’ law, it was obvious that she would not sign it.

The law will be published tomorrow. In 60 days from tomorrow, the key provisions of the law will take effect as after these 60 days, local CSOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad will have to register as “organizations pursuing the interests of a foreign power”. Over 100 Georgian CSOs have already vowed not to register in this “defamatory” registry.

Despite unprecedented domestic and international pressure on the ruling Georgian Dream majority not to pass the Kremlin-inspired foreign agents law, the GD pushed and pass it anyway. The law was finally passed on May 28, when the ruling majority overrode the President’s veto and passed it with 84 votes in favor.

News.Az