In Georgia, people have been taking to the streets for weeks to protest against the government. The country is a candidate member of the EU, but a bill is actually turning towards Russia, much to the dissatisfaction of citizens. “It’s a toxic cocktail.”
This concerns a new law surrounding so-called ‘foreign agents’, with which the Georgian government is moving more towards Russia. Citizens in the country want to become part of the European Union and are showing this on the streets.
From the authoritarian playbook
The bill states that organizations that derive more than 20 percent of their income from abroad must register. They then fall under the heading of ‘foreign agent’ and come under strict supervision. In practice, these are mainly human rights organizations and (critical) media. And this makes it very similar to a law that neighboring country Russia previously introduced.
“What makes it so controversial is that it is a tool from the authoritarian script, which makes repression of media and civil society organizations possible,” says Antoaneta Dimitrova, who specializes in Central and Eastern Europe as a professor at Leiden University. .
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‘Worrying development’
“This bill has already been submitted once before,” she knows. “And there were also fierce protests last time.” These protests then ensured that the new law was stopped. “Now the ruling party is trying again, because they think they can now suppress the protests. That is a worrying development.”
Russia introduced a similar law in 2012 and several subsequent changes have reduced the freedoms of civil society organizations and the media. According to Dimitrova, the law has been “extremely important” in the suppression of opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “This is how you ensure that critics disappear from the public debate.”
Candidate for membership of the EU
The law also jeopardizes Georgia’s candidate membership of the European Union, which the country has had since last December. “It is extremely problematic for the possibility of starting negotiations on membership,” says Dimitrova.
“One of the conditions for becoming a member is having free media in a country,” the professor points out one of the sore points. “This law works against that. The mouths of journalists and critics are gagged.”
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‘An extremely toxic cocktail’
But for former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling party Georgian Dream, moving further away from Europe is not a problem, Dimitrova explains. As an oligarch he makes big money in Russia. According to her, the party seems to have become a lot more extreme and is increasingly expressing conspiracy theories about the ‘evil’ West.
“Georgian Dream has talked about the global party trying to put Georgia at war with Russia. They interpret the conflict between Russia and Georgia as something ‘made’ in the West,” she explains. “So that becomes an extremely toxic cocktail.”
Parliament is in favor of a bill
For now, the protests in Georgia appear to be continuing. Parliament voted in favor of the controversial law in a first reading on Tuesday, which happened again yesterday in the second reading. With a third approval, only President Salome Zurabishvili still needs to sign the law before it comes into effect.
But Zurabishvili is against the plans and has already said she will veto it if necessary, fearing the law will threaten Georgia’s chances of joining the EU. Governing party Georgian Dream says it still supports Georgia’s wish to one day become a member of the EU.
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What’s going on in Georgia, where protests have been going on for weeks?
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