Georgia's president vetoes media legislation that has provoked weeks of protests
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed the so-called “Russian law” targeting media that has sparked weeks of mass protests.
The legislation would require media and non-governmental organizations to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad. Critics of the bill say it closely resembles legislation used by the Kremlin to silence opponents, and that it will obstruct Georgia’s bid to join the EU.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with Georgia’s ruling party, said on Saturday that the legislation contradicts Georgia’s Constitution and “all European standards,” and added that it “must be abolished.”
The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has a majority sufficient to override Zourabichvili’s veto, and is widely expected to do so in the coming days.
The Georgian government insists that the proposed law is intended to promote transparency and curb what it deems harmful foreign influence in the country of 3.7 million. Many Georgian journalists and campaigners fiercely dispute this characterization, saying they are already subject to audit and monitoring requirements. They say that the bill's true goal is to stigmatize them and restrict debate ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
The EU offered Georgia candidate status last December, while making it clear that Tbilisi needs to implement key policy recommendations for its membership bid to progress. The recommendations concern, among other areas, elections that must be remain free and fair, fighting disinformation “against the EU and its values," and safeguarding the independence of public institutions such as the central bank and anti-corruption bodies.
The opposition United National Movement and many protesters accuse Georgian Dream of trying to scupper the EU integration process, and to instead drag Georgia into Russia’s sphere of influence — allegations the ruling party vehemently rejects. Georgian Dream was founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a former prime minister and billionaire who made his fortune in Russia.
The bill is nearly identical to one that the party was pressured to withdraw last year after street protests. Renewed demonstrations have rocked Georgia for weeks, with demonstrators scuffling with police, who used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them. An opposition lawmaker earlier this month spoke in Parliament with a bandaged face, visible bruises and cuts. His allies said he had been assaulted by police during the protests.
EU officials and Western leaders have repeatedly expressed concerns over the law, as well as Tbilisi's heavy-handed response to dissent. The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, issued a statement Wednesday in support of the Georgian protesters, and to condemn what he described as a wave of violence against opposition politicians, activists, journalists and their families.
European Council President Charles Michel said Tuesday that if Georgians “want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles.”
Zourabichvili told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that it was hard to say whether the bill was Georgian Dream’s initiative or if Moscow had played any role in its passage, but she emphasized that the Kremlin is unhappy with Georgia’s pro-Western aspirations.
“It’s clear that Moscow is not seeing with lots of appreciation this accelerated pace of Georgia towards the European Union,” she said.
Russia-Georgia relations have been strained and turbulent since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and Georgia’s departure from its role as a Soviet republic.
In 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as independent states and strengthened its military presence there. Most of the world considers both regions to be parts of Georgia.
Tbilisi cut diplomatic ties with Moscow, and the regions’ status remains a key irritant even as Russia-Georgia relations have improved in recent years.
The Associated Press
Georgia president vetoes controversial 'foreign influence' law
President Zurabishvili rejects the legislation resembling Russian laws to silence dissent, as the ruling Georgian Dream party faces backlash from citizens and warnings from Brussels about undermining Georgia's EU aspirations.
AFP
The move has sparked unprecedented protests in the Black Sea nation, where over 80 percent of the population supports joining the EU and NATO and is staunchly anti-Kremlin.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili put a mostly symbolic veto on the "foreign influence" law that sparked unprecedented protests and warnings from Brussels that the measure would undermine Tbilisi's European aspirations.
Ruling Georgian Dream party lawmakers voted through the legislation this week in defiance of protesters, who are worried the ex-Soviet republic is shifting away from a pro-Western course back toward Russia.
The move has sparked a wave of protests unprecedented in the recent history of the Black Sea nation, where according to opinion polls more than 80 percent of the population wants to join the European Union and NATO, and is staunchly anti-Kremlin.
"Today I set a veto... on the law, which is Russian in its essence, and which contradicts our constitution," she said in a televised statement, speaking about the bill that critics describe as resembling Russian legislation used to silence dissent.
Brussels has said the measure is "incompatible" with Georgia's bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in the country's constitution.
Georgian Dream has enough lawmakers in parliament to override her veto.
President rejects negotiations with ruling party
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has signalled his party's readiness to consider Zurabishvili's proposed amendments to the law, should she lay them out in her veto document.
But figurehead president Zurabishvili — at loggerheads with the ruling party — has ruled out the prospect of entering "false, artificial, misleading negotiations" with Georgian Dream.
The bill requires NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as bodies "pursuing the interests of a foreign power".
Georgian Dream insists it is committed to joining the EU, and portrays the bill as aimed at increasing the transparency of NGO funding.
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