Turmoil in the Georgian Parliament: A fistfight broke out today (Monday) in the Georgian legislature, during a debate on the “foreign agents” law, which critics claim is “similar to the draconian legislation in neighboring Russia.” In the documentation published on social networks, it is possible to notice a fight that broke out between members of parliament, after the chairman of the committee on legal affairs, hit the leader of the opposition party “The United National Movement”, which opposes the legislation.
Last month, the ruling bloc in the parliament announced that it supports the legislation, which still needs to go through additional stages before becoming a law in the country’s statute book. The law would require organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from outside the country to register as “foreign agents” and agree to monitoring by the Ministry of Justice, or the country could impose heavy fines on them.
Critics compared the bill to the Russian law enacted in 2012, and steadily expanded, when it was used to harm the country’s independent media. According to them, the law is “a symbol of the authoritarian change in Georgia”. The Russian legislation that is proposed in the parliament, “is against the national interests of Georgia and against the aspirations to join the European Union”, said Irakli Pavlanishvili, a human rights activist in the country.
However, the supporters of the legislation stated that “Georgian society deserves to know which organizations are funded and from which sources. We are talking about transparency and the commitment to the Georgian family.” At the same time, the ruling party stated that despite the fear, it remained committed to working for Georgia’s accession to the European Union. Meanwhile, the country’s president, Saloma Zouravishvili, said she would veto the bill. This, on the grounds that it “jeopardizes Georgia’s hopes of joining the European Union and NATO.