Georgia's ruling party says "foreign agents" bill can be repealed when Georgia is offered EU membership

Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, has said it will abandon or repeal the foreign influence transparency law [which would compel civil society organisations with foreign funding to register as "organisations working in the interests of a foreign power" – ed.] when Georgia receives an offer to join the European Union.

Source: Irakli Garibashvili, leader of the Georgian Dream party, cited in Georgia Online; European Pravda

Details: Garibashvili said that if Georgia’s EU membership bid is approved, the law could "easily" be repealed.

"I want to put this simply: when the country is ready and we are told that we will join the European Union tomorrow, this law could be repealed, revised, amended, and a new one could easily be passed instead. So don’t worry, everything is okay," Garibashvili said.

He added that the bill’s adoption would not affect the pace of Georgia’s EU accession, because the EU "is not prepared for expansion".

Background:

• On 17 April, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that nothing was preventing the controversial law from being passed, despite the disapproval of the West and the Georgian public.
• Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said she would veto the law, but acknowledged that it would most likely be passed by parliament.
• The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said it was outraged at the Georgian prime minister’s statement that the foreign agents bill is designed to protect Georgia from "Ukrainisation".

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