Georgian parliament to reconsider draft law on foreign agents

The Georgian Parliament at the plenary session did not have time to finish the second reading of the draft law on foreign agents, it was decided to continue the discussion on 1 May.

"The consideration and voting will continue tomorrow," said Shalva Papuashvili, chairman of the Georgian legislature, News.Az reports citing TASS. 

Parliament started discussing the draft law on foreign agents in the second reading on 30 April. During the day, MPs considered the law article by article. There were heated debates between the MPs. They had time to consider only 3 out of 11 articles of the draft law.

Simultaneously, a rally against the draft law is again taking place outside the parliament. Thousands of people blocked Rustaveli Avenue and demanded that the authorities withdraw the initiative.

On 17 April, the Georgian parliament approved in the first reading the draft law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence", which was opposed by the country's president Salome Zurabishvili, the opposition and Western diplomats who considered it an obstacle to the republic's integration into the European Union. Since 15 April, the opposition and civil activists have been holding rallies against the bill in Tbilisi.

The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party announced in early April that it had decided to reintroduce the bill to parliament. This comes a year after a similar initiative led to mass protests, forcing the authorities to reject the bill. Its text remained the same as last year, except for the term "agent of foreign influence". Instead, the term "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign force" was used.

News.Az