FEARS OF EU INTEGRATION
The invoice requires NGOs and media retailers that obtain greater than 20 per cent of their funding from overseas to register as our bodies “pursuing the pursuits of a international energy”.
Russia has used the same legislation to silence public figures and organisations that disagree with or deviate from the Kremlin’s views.
The EU on Tuesday repeated its place that the invoice undermines Tbilisi’s want to maneuver nearer to the bloc.
“EU member nations are very clear that if this legislation is adopted will probably be a severe impediment for Georgia in its European perspective,” mentioned its spokesman, Peter Stano.
Final yr, Georgia was granted official EU candidacy, and Brussels is ready to resolve in December on the formal launch of accession talks — an unlikely prospect after the legislation’s adoption.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who’s at loggerheads with the federal government, has vowed to veto the legislation, although Georgian Dream has sufficient lawmakers in parliament to override her veto.
“This legislation is taking away my future,” 19-year-old protester Anano Plievi informed AFP exterior parliament.
“I’m offended, and happy with all these folks on the similar time. We’re going to hold going in the direction of Europe.”
Georgian society is broadly anti-Kremlin. Georgia’s bid for membership of the EU and NATO is enshrined in its structure and – based on opinion polls – supported by a majority of the inhabitants.
NGOs and authorities critics have reported months of intimidation and harassment within the run-up to the invoice being reintroduced in a focused marketing campaign that has escalated amid the tensions.
Georgian Dream has depicted the protesters as violent mobs, insisted it’s dedicated to becoming a member of the EU, and mentioned the invoice is aimed toward rising transparency of NGO funding.
The controversy surrounding the invoice comes 5 months earlier than a parliamentary election seen as a vital democratic check for the Black Sea nation.
