Georgia's president vetoes new “foreign agents” law

Several thousand demonstrated against the controversial law. On Saturday, President Salome Zurabishvili took action and vetoed the law.

Today, you vetoed a Russian law that contradicts our Constitution, contradicts all European standards, and thus represents an obstacle to our European path. This veto is completely legal and will be presented to Parliament today. This law is not subject to any change or improvement, and is therefore merely a veto. The president said on Saturday that this law should be repealed.

The president had previously said that she would veto the controversial law. She described the law as “unacceptable.”

“It is unacceptable because it reflects a reversal in Georgian attitudes towards civil society, towards the media and towards the recommendations of the European Commission that are not consistent with our stated policy of moving towards European integration,” she said earlier this week.

Georgia's National Assembly on Tuesday approved a law that means companies financed with money from abroad will be classified as foreign agents.

The law means that authorities can demand full access to non-governmental companies that receive at least 20 percent of their funding from abroad. In Georgia, this is especially true for independent media and civic organizations that are operated with the help of funds from Western foundations and foundations.

Critics believe the law is leading Georgia in an authoritarian direction, and point to a similar law in Russia that has been used to silence independent media and human rights organizations.