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Georgia’s ‘foreign influence’ bill could imperil its Western trajectory, EU and US warn
Insights from Foreign Policy, National Democratic Institute, and JAMnews
The News
Protesters in Tbilisi clashed with riot police firing water cannons and tear gas after a controversial law advanced in Georgia’s parliament Wednesday, drawing condemnation from Western officials who say it will stifle dissent and derail the country’s path to joining the European Union.
Demonstrations swelled after the ruling party’s “foreign influence” bill, which Georgia’s pro-Western opposition says is authoritarian and inspired by Russia, passed a second reading in parliament with an overwhelming majority, leading to warnings from the EU, the United States, and the UN.
“The Georgian people want a European future for their country,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “Georgia is at a crossroads. It should stay the course on the road to Europe.”
A US State Department spokesperson said the draft law put “Georgia’s Western trajectory at risk,” while UN human rights chief Volker Turk called on Georgia’s government to withdraw the bill.
Officials warn that the bill — which requires NGOs and media outlets that receive 20% of their funds from overseas to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” — would weaken Georgia’s democracy. They say it will jeopardize future membership of the EU and NATO, which Georgia has sought to join for decades.
While the ruling Georgian Dream party says the bill will improve transparency of foreign funded-organizations, opponents liken it to Russia’s 2012 foreign influence law, which has been used to harshly crack down on dissent.
After a third reading the bill must be signed off by Georgia’s president, who has promised to veto it. But Georgian Dream has enough votes in parliament to override a presidential veto, and party MPs have said they want the bill signed into law by the end of the month.
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Split between Georgia’s government and population is laid bare
The protests are the latest iteration of a long-standing tension between Georgia’s civil society and the ruling party. While 80% of Georgia’s population supports joining the EU — the country’s ambition to join the EU and NATO is enshrined in its constitution — the current government has adopted policies that have moved the country further from the West. While the EU offered Georgia candidate status last year, membership is dependent on reforming its judicial systems, improving press freedom, and cracking down oligarchs. “We have a government that is seemingly more interested in doing business with Russia than advancing on the EU path,” a senior European official told Reuters last year.
Moscow praises bill and blames West for protests
While the bill has earned rebukes from a long list of Western officials, it has received extensive praise from Moscow and its supporters. The prominent Russian public intellectual Alexander Dugin said “Georgia is on the right track” to cleansing the country of “liberal agents.” Russia’s foreign minister defended the proposal, while a Kremlin spokesperson blamed the protests on the West. Georgia’s trajectory has increasingly fallen in line with Moscow’s ambitions, as “the pro-Russian elements of Georgian Dream worked their way to the top while pushing Western-oriented members out of government,” the Hudson Institute’s Luke Coffey wrote. If the protests were to come close to pushing the ruling party out of power, “there is a high likelihood that Moscow will intervene,” he added.
