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
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