Georgia’s president on Saturday vetoed a 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 percent of their funding from abroad.
Critics of the bill say it closely resembles legislation used by the Kremlin to silence opponents, and that it would obstruct Georgia’s bid to join the EU.
Photo: AFP
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who is increasingly at odds with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said that the legislation contradicts the country’s constitution and “all European standards,” adding that it “must be abolished.”
“Today I set a veto ... on the law, which is Russian in its essence, and which contradicts our constitution,” Zurabishvili said in a televised statement on the measure.
Georgian Dream lawmakers last week voted through the legislation in defiance of protesters concerned the former-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.
The party has a majority sufficient to override the veto, and is widely expected to do so in the coming days.
The government says 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.
More than 80 percent of the population wants to join the EU and NATO, and is staunchly anti-Kremlin, opinion polls showed.
Brussels on Saturday repeated its warnings that the measure is incompatible with Georgia’s bid for EU membership, which is enshrined in the country’s constitution.
European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X that the president’s veto offered “a moment for further reflection.”
He urged lawmakers to “make good use of this window of opportunity” to keep Georgia on its EU path.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has signaled his party’s readiness to consider Zurabishvili’s proposed amendments to the law, should she lay them out in her veto document.
However, the president has ruled out the prospect of entering “false, artificial, misleading negotiations” with Georgian Dream.
Additional reporting by AFP
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
‘HYANGDO’: A South Korean lawmaker said there was no credible evidence to support rumors that Kim Jong-un has a son with a disability or who is studying abroad South Korea’s spy agency yesterday said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, who last week accompanied him on a high-profile visit to Beijing, is understood to be his recognized successor. The teenager drew global attention when she made her first official overseas trip with her father, as he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Analysts have long seen her as Kim’s likely successor, although some have suggested she has an older brother who is being secretly groomed as the next leader. The South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS) “assesses that she [Kim Ju-ae]
RSS