Georgia's ruling party's draft law on “foreign influence” is designed to keep foreign-funded NGOs in check ahead of elections in October. The same law, under a slightly different name, was withdrawn last year amid massive rallies and diplomatic condemnation from the EU and the US.
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The so-called “Russian law” is likely to play a decisive role ahead of the Georgian parliamentary elections next October.
The ruling Georgian Dream party is prepared to drastically reduce the political weight of NGOs funded from abroad, especially from the EU and the USA.
With the formalized law against “foreign influence,” the Kremlin-friendly Georgian government and parliamentary majority want to force NGOs that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.”
Numerous international human rights NGOs based in Georgia, including Transparency International and Human Rights Watch, are listed in a mandatory public register and declare themselves as “foreign-funded structures”.
Why is that important?
Both for-profit and non-profit organizations that receive external funding and sign contracts or legal agreements are already registered with the Ministry of Finance for tax purposes as part of a normal legal action.
However, under the new law against “foreign influence,” NGOs must declare themselves as “foreign entities” and provide detailed information about who is providing the funds.
This immediately raises the question: if the Ministry of Finance already has information about where the funds come from, why are the organizations forced to re-register and labeled as influenced by foreign actors?
The answer, according to critics of the law, is simple: in the event of legal and political controversies, they can be accused of acting against the national interests of the country in which they operate.
Hundreds of thousands of Georgian citizens have been taking to the streets in Tbilisi for weeks, calling on the government to withdraw the law.
The interpretation of the term “foreign influence” is too ambiguous, and the wording seems unsuitable for a constitutional legal document.
In the eyes of Georgian society, the draft law bears incredible similarities to a law that came into force in Russia in 2012, when the Russian Federation began restricting public freedoms and civil rights.
How does the ruling party justify this step?
The ruling party's statements on the purpose of the law have met with a worrying response among pro-European and pro-Western public opinion.
“The funding of NGOs, which is presented as help to us, is in reality intended to strengthen (foreign) intelligence services and bring them to power,” Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire oligarch and founder of the Georgian Dream party, said last month at the start of the parliamentary process on the bill.
He also said the law would prevent the Western “global war party” from interfering in Georgian politics.
Ivanishvili has a volatile relationship with the EU and Russia. When his political force came to power in 2012, he supported Georgia's bid for membership, but two years ago the European Parliament proposed action against Ivanishvili for helping the Kremlin circumvent EU sanctions.
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Georgia is a candidate for EU membership, but Tbilisi has not joined the Union's sanctions against Moscow.
Zurabishvili as a counterweight
The former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus has led a precarious geopolitical existence since its independence in 1991.
The country was defeated in a war with Russia in 2008. The Kremlin-backed parastate of Abkhazia currently occupies about 20 percent of Georgian territory. Since then, the various Georgian governments have had to find a balance between Moscow and the West.
The current prime minister is Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream, a deputy of Ivanishvili.
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According to protesters opposing the so-called “Russia law,” both political leaders are pro-Russian and act in the best interests of the Kremlin.
President Salomé Zurabishvili strongly opposes the law. However, her right of veto will be ineffective if the bill receives the approval of 76 MPs and Parliament can thus overrule it.
In return, Zurabishvili became an informal guarantor of Georgia's European and Western obligations.
The president, a former French diplomat of Georgian origin, has distanced herself from Ivanishvili and begun to pursue an independent policy, thereby coming into conflict with the executive.
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Given the internal political polarisation in Georgia, which has currently reached its peak, the parliamentary elections scheduled for next October are likely to be a turning point in Georgia's geopolitical development.
The opposition is weak and divided, and citizens repeatedly gather spontaneously in mass rallies for the EU.
NGOs should become guarantors of the transparency of the electoral process.
If the president falls, the balance is gone
At the institutional level, Zurabishvili represents the sharpest and most significant critical stance. Nevertheless, there could be a new president as early as December next year.
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According to a constitutional amendment, the election of the president has now been transferred to parliament.
By turning out in their thousands to the ongoing protests, Georgians in Tbilisi are showing massive commitment to the EU and could be the driving force that steers the country westward. However, the ruling party will be looking to gain the necessary electoral support from rural areas.
There is a real risk that Georgia will lose its fragile stability, which would further exacerbate ongoing tensions between the West and Russia.
If an openly pro-Western government wins the elections in October, it would be a serious setback for the Kremlin in the South Caucasus.
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