NATO Spokesperson says Georgian Govt’s adoption of foreign influence law “step in wrong direction”

Farah Dakhlallah, the Spokesperson for NATO, on Wednesday said the Georgian Government’s decision to adopt the controversial law on transparency of foreign influence on Tuesday was a “step in the wrong direction”.

In her social media post, Dakhlallah noted the decision took the country “further away from European and Euro-Atlantic integration”.

The official urged the country’s Government to “change course and to respect the right to peaceful protests”.

The law was adopted by the Parliament against public protests in the country and criticism from some of Georgia’s foreign partner states.

The legislative piece requires registration of non-commercial legal entities and media outlets in the country as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they derive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad.

It also requires groups “considered to be an organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power” to be registered in the public registry with the status and publicise their received funding.

The draft law was supported by 84 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body on Tuesday, with 30 voting against.

President Salome Zourabichvili on Sunday said she would veto the bill, however the ruling party has enough votes to override her veto in the Parliament.