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The ruling Georgian Dream party overrode a veto from President Salome Zourabichvili Tuesday allowing controversial “foreign influence” legislation affecting media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country to become law.
The parliament overwhelmingly voted with 66 votes in favor of overriding Zourabichvili’s veto and voted with a majority of 84-4 votes in favor of the bill, giving the president five days to sign the bill or leave it to the speaker of parliament to do so.
The bill will require NGOs and media who receive 20 percent or more of their funding from outside of Georgia to register with the government as “foreign agents.” The requirement means that entities who fail to register could be subject to fines and would require organizations to disclose certain information to the government potentially compromising journalistic independence and integrity amongst media companies in the country.
Georgia has experienced intense protests since the bill was reintroduced this year and approved by parliament earlier this month. The bill was originally introduced and pulled from discussion last year amid public outcry. Thousands rallied in the capital of Tbilisi in opposition to the bill as well as in commemoration of the country’s independence day.
The US approved visa restrictions against Georgia leadership in anticipation of the bill’s approval and condemned the bill as “Kremlin-styled” law meant to stifle freedom of expression and debate in the country. The ruling Georgian Dream Party has argued the law is necessary to protect Georgia’s democracy from outside influence from foreign powers while critics have argued that the bill will preclude any chance the country had at joining NATO.
President Zourabichvili had echoed criticism from the West calling the bill “fundamentally Russian” and an “obstacle” to the countries “European path.”
The post Georgia parliament overrides president veto of controversial ‘foreign influence’ bill appeared first on JURIST - News.
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The parliament overwhelmingly voted with 66 votes in favor of overriding Zourabichvili’s veto and voted with a majority of 84-4 votes in favor of the bill, giving the president five days to sign the bill or leave it to the speaker of parliament to do so.
The bill will require NGOs and media who receive 20 percent or more of their funding from outside of Georgia to register with the government as “foreign agents.” The requirement means that entities who fail to register could be subject to fines and would require organizations to disclose certain information to the government potentially compromising journalistic independence and integrity amongst media companies in the country.
Georgia has experienced intense protests since the bill was reintroduced this year and approved by parliament earlier this month. The bill was originally introduced and pulled from discussion last year amid public outcry. Thousands rallied in the capital of Tbilisi in opposition to the bill as well as in commemoration of the country’s independence day.
The US approved visa restrictions against Georgia leadership in anticipation of the bill’s approval and condemned the bill as “Kremlin-styled” law meant to stifle freedom of expression and debate in the country. The ruling Georgian Dream Party has argued the law is necessary to protect Georgia’s democracy from outside influence from foreign powers while critics have argued that the bill will preclude any chance the country had at joining NATO.
President Zourabichvili had echoed criticism from the West calling the bill “fundamentally Russian” and an “obstacle” to the countries “European path.”
The post Georgia parliament overrides president veto of controversial ‘foreign influence’ bill appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.