Georgia MPs to override veto on ‘foreign influence’ law next week

Georgia’s parliament will next week launch proceedings to override a presidential veto on a controversial “foreign influence” law, the chamber’s press office said Friday, despite massive ongoing protests and international condemnation.

As it gears up for the vote, the ruling Georgian Dream party blasted the United States for “encroaching” on Tbilisi’s sovereignty with a plan for visa restrictions on Georgian officials over the legislation.

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Unprecedented demonstrations have gripped the Caucasus country for weeks, with opponents saying the law mirrors Russian legislation used to silence dissent.

Georgian MPs adopted the law last week but it was vetoed several days later by President Salome Zurabishvili, who is at loggerheads with the government.

The parliament’s press office told AFP that a legal affairs committee on Monday will discuss overruling the veto on Monday, formally launching the procedure.

A vote at a plenary session is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, the press office said.

Georgian Dream has enough MPs in parliament to override the veto.

The law requires NGOs and media outlets receiving more than 20 percent of funding from abroad to register as acting “in the interests of a foreign power.”

It has been blasted as undemocratic by Western countries.

Georgian Dream on Friday slammed Washington’s announcement a day earlier of visa restrictions for “individuals who are responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Georgia” over the law.

In a statement, it accused the US of “visa blackmail” and a “flagrant attempt to encroach on Georgia’s independence and sovereignty.”

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Tbilisi has seen almost daily demonstrations for the past month and a fresh street protest is scheduled for Friday evening.

Police have on several occasions beat and arrested demonstrators, using tear gas and water cannon to disperse the rallies.

Brussels has warned the measures are “incompatible” with Tbilisi’s bid to join the EU.

Georgian Dream insists it is still committed to joining the bloc, though protesters accuse the party of sabotaging those ambitions and bringing the country back into Moscow’s orbit.

© Agence France-Presse