Georgian parliament approves "deologarchisation" bill in first reading

The Parliament of Georgia at a meeting on November 3 in the first reading approved the bill "on oligarchs", which introduces the definition of an oligarch and prohibits people from the register of oligarchs from participating in the country's socio-political life.  

According to the bill, oligarchs are recognized as those who participate in the political life of the country, have a significant influence on the media or own them, and have also held a leading position in any economic sector over the past year, per TASS. A separate register will be created for such people, after which they will be banned from financing political parties, rallies, and participating in privatization. This law, if passed, will expire in ten years.

The document still has to go through the second and third readings in parliament.

As Anri Okhanashvili, head of the Committee on Legal Affairs of the Georgian Parliament said earlier, the bill is similar to the Ukrainian law "on oligarchs." The opposition did not support it, arguing that the document does not correspond to Georgian realities.

The adoption of the law on oligarchs will be the fulfilment of one of the 12 points that, at a meeting on June 23, the leaders of the European Union determined to grant Georgia the status of a candidate for the union. At the same time, the opposition is sure that under the paragraph "deoligarchization" the EU means actions against the founder of the ruling party "Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia" Bidzina Ivanishvili, and they also demand that the West impose sanctions against him.