Georgia’s controversial foreign agent bill is nothing but a dangerous gamble Power to the people

On March 7, 2023, the Georgian government approved the controversial "foreign agent bill" at the first hearing in the parliament, provoking mass riots in Tbilisi. The new draft law envisions forcing foreign-funded NGOs and media outlets to register as "foreign influence agents," a move seen as an attempt to stigmatize and oppress the Georgian Dream (GD) government's leading critics within the country. Officially the GD government seeks to “ensure the transparency of NGO funding”, while Some argue that the Georgian authorities seek to "consolidate authoritarian rule".

The proposal for adopting such a bizarre law came from the People's Power movement, the anti-Western offshoot of the ruling party, and was greenlighted by the Georgian Dream government. Unsurprisingly, the draft bill stirred debates in the West, raising questions regarding the limits of Georgian democracy.

Many in the West are confident that the new draft law is incompatible with Georgia’s long-term pro-Western orientation and aspirations. The growing discontent with the new draft bill is due to its nature and attribution to the "foreign agent law" adopted by the Russian government a few years earlier. Hence, it might be concluded that Georgia's ruling government mimicked Russia in an attempt to import its experience of “tackling foreign influence.”

To thwart the prominent critics within the government and public, the GD government and its allies denied allegations of the similarity of the newly drafted bill with Russia's foreign agents' law, referring instead to an exact analogue of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). As a result, dozens of protestors took streets in Tbilisi and attempted to storm the parliament building, given Georgians' rich experience in doing so. Nevertheless, as in previous cases, police retaliated promptly by using water canons to disperse the protestors and secure the parliament building.

Although this explanation neither satisfied the GD's political opponents, nor public opinion, as the government attempts to marginalize the local opposition and clear the field for other anti-democratic bills. Notably, the GD has already been under pressure from the international community due to its controversial position toward Russia shortly after it launched an invasion campaign of Ukraine.

Since the war unfolded in Ukraine, the Georgian authorities ruled out the possibility of joining anti-Russian sanctions, though they expressed their support to Ukraine. Such a stance dragged internal and external criticism, while many Georgians demanded more concrete steps to support Kyiv, albeit unsuccessfully.

In this context, instead of communicating with protestors and local opposition factions in the parliament, the GD chairman Irakli Kobakhidze threatened to punish violent protestors with all severity of the law. Seemingly, the GD government believes that the new draft bill will strengthen the authorities' fight against destructive influence within the country, ensuring the sustainability of its fragile democracy.

Contrary to these sentiments, the new draft bill strengthened the anti-GD front, while the country’s president Salome Zurabishvili openly sided with the protestors and urged the parliament to abolish the undemocratic bill.

Many opposition political parties are worried about Georgia's shrinking prospects of integration with Europe and the Atlantic Community in light of the worsening democratic situation under the GD government. For example, on March 6, Levan Khabeishvili, the newly elected chair of Georgia’s largest opposition party United Nations Movement (UNM), was attacked by the GD member of parliament during the hearings of the proposed draft bill. Nonetheless, the GD MP has not faced any legal repercussions for the incident.

The proposed law on foreign agents passed the hearing in the parliament, though it was subjected to undergo two more rounds of voting in parliament before entering into force. However, the prospects of adoption of the law appeared to be minimal at a time when the president vowed to veto it, and protestors clashed with police forces.

Given the risks of political crisis and more discontent, the authorities withdrew the controversial "foreign agents" bill from the Georgian parliament on March 9. According to the ruling party's statement broadcast on television, it has decided to withdraw the bill "unconditionally" due to the public outlash.

Indeed, the GD government would attempt to push the bill later in different forms in order to prevent renewed hostilities, which they may see as a viable option to maintain the rule. Nevertheless, such gambling with controversial bills may sink Georgia, with its fragile democracy, into a power vacuum with dramatic consequences.