Georgian President vetoes law on transparency of foreign influence

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on Saturday vetoed the law on transparency of foreign influence, reintroduced by the ruling Georgian Dream party against the backdrop of ongoing public protests and criticism from Georgia’s foreign partner states.

The law calls for the 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.

At a press briefing in the Presidential Administration, Zourabichvili said she had vetoed “the Russian law” and claimed it was “against our constitution and European standards”, stressing the law would be “an obstacle for Georgia on its European path”.

This veto is completely legal and will be delivered to the Parliament today. This law is subject to no change, no improvement, and therefore the veto is very simple. This law should be repealed”, the President noted.

The Parliament on Tuesday adopted the transparency law, which 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 legislative piece was supported by 84 MPs in the 150-member lawmaking body, with 30 voting against it.