“The law in its current form risks having a chilling effect on civil society and media organizations, with negative consequences for the many Georgians benefiting from their work,” said the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, when Georgian Dream first introduced the bill. “This law is incompatible with EU values and standards,” he added.
Attempts to pass the foreign agent law coincide with hardline new legislation introduced by the government that would ban what it describes as the promotion of “same-sex family or intimate relationships.” In practice, it would bar gay couples from marrying, ban recognition of gender identity and may outlaw public gatherings like Pride parades.
While Georgian Dream has publicly committed to securing full membership of the EU, the country’s progress has fallen behind that of Ukraine and Moldova, which have both begun accession talks with Brussels. The South Caucasus country has also resisted efforts to impose sanctions on Russia — in fact strengthening trade ties with Moscow since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Georgian Dream will claim getting candidate status was their achievement but everyone who deals with Georgia knows that isn’t true,” German MEP and foreign affairs committee member Viola von Cramon-Taubadel told POLITICO, adding that that includes “the population, the citizens, civil society, that is who is afraid to be left behind, to be left to Putin.”
One of the few foreign capitals to defend the plans is Moscow. Praising the decision, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said last week that “no sovereign state wants interference from other countries in domestic politics.” Enforcement of Russia’s own ‘foreign agent’ law has been tightened in the two years since the start of the war in Ukraine, and there are now an estimated 1,000 political prisoners behind bars — many of whom are civil society figures and activists.
