By Besiki Kutateladze, Associate Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
This week has been very difficult for Georgia, the country of my birth and upbringing.
Georgia’s ruling Dream party has initiated a new law that would require civil society organizations and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as an "organization serving the interests of a foreign power." The bill is introduced on the premise of advancing transparency. However, many Georgians view it as a copycat of Russia’s foreign agent law, which silenced dissent there.
Since Monday, protests have erupted outside the Parliament in Tbilisi, with tens of thousands demanding that Georgian Dream abandon the legislation and focus on European Union (EU) integration instead. Georgians do not want the authoritarianism they see in their northern neighbor. All eyes are on the West. In fact, polls show that 80 to 90 percent of respondents want to join the European Union. Well, in December, Georgia received EU candidacy status.
There is an ongoing discussion within the EU member states about the last possible stage of enlargement, which should happen by 2030, and Georgia alongside Ukraine and Moldova want to make the cut before the iron curtain descends. Armenia—which is another country in the Caucasus region—is also trying to jump on the train, even at the risk of upsetting the Kremlin.
It's worth noting that Georgia received EU candidate status not solely due to the Georgian Dream party’s accomplishments and pro-Western stance. Instead, the candidacy was granted on geopolitical grounds, as well as to reward the Georgian people for their fight for democracy and freedom.
Many global leaders, including Charles Michel, who is the president of the European Council, as well as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was meeting the Georgian counterpart last week, state that the proposed legislation is inconsistent with EU values and will prevent the move to the next stage of the EU accession process.
There are three viable reasons why Georgian Dream initiated this legislation now, and these reasons are neither exclusive nor exhaustive.
Firstly, similar to what occurred in Russia, the Georgian government aims to silence civil society and critical media outlets, whose work will become significantly more challenging if the law is adopted. This isn't solely due to this law but also because it will likely be followed by similar legislative initiatives that will ultimately eliminate critical voices. This move would give Georgian Dream an upper hand in the upcoming election. (As a note, Georgia is a parliamentary republic, and parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 26.)
Secondly, many commentators argue that Russia is pushing Georgian Dream to adopt this law to impede Georgia’s accession into the EU, thereby aiming to regain control over the region. It is highly unlikely that Georgia will become an EU member under the current regime. Therefore, it is in Russia’s interest to keep Georgian Dream in power, at least until the war in Ukraine is resolved.
Thirdly, Georgian Dream likely wanted to divert attention from mounting accusations of rampant corruption. This includes former Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, who used the government plane to fly his son to college in the U.S. He defended himself by claiming that his retired father—who had previously been described as working class—paid for the private jet. While this scandal is perhaps one of the most memorable, Garibashvili has been accused by civil society and investigative journalists of far worse. It is no secret that he has acquired a lot of wealth while in various governmental positions, from defense to prime minister until January 2024.
Another scandal that the government is trying to cover up concerns senior Georgian judges, often referred to as the “judicial clan.” In April 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that four senior judges – Mikheil Chinchaladze, Levan Murusidze, Irakli Shengelia, and Valerian Tsertsvadze – had abused their positions by undermining the public's faith in Georgia's judicial system. However, many argue that sanctioning these four is not enough and has done very little to deter political corruption.
What’s also interesting is that Georgia has a pro-Western president, Salome Zurabishvili, who has limited powers due to Georgia being a parliamentary republic but who has been a staunch advocate for Georgia’s EU aspirations. Zurabishvili is a former French diplomat who joined Georgian politics a few decades ago. Ironically, while she has become a critic of the current regime, she won the presidential election in 2018 due to the support of the Georgian Dream Party and its leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and an oligarch who made his fortune in Russia.
Ivanishvili is a key figure here. His influence is vast, and, unfortunately, he seems to maintain ties with Russia. Many believe that the West should impose sanctions on Ivanishvili. Otherwise, defeating him and his ruling party in October would be nearly impossible.
Another interesting aspect of the legislation is another Russian-style bill concerning “Gay Propaganda.” Just before introducing the so-called “Foreign Influence” law described earlier, Georgian Dream started to exploit the topic of “family sanctity” by warning Georgia’s largely Orthodox Christian population that their family values are at risk of disappearing. During nearly all election cycles, Georgian politicians have successfully exploited this topic by proposing some absurd protections against homosexuality.
Thankfully, this initiative did not gain traction this time. When Mamuka Mdinaradze, the majority leader in parliament, initiated the discussion of the “Gay Propaganda” bill, no opposition politician or media outlet picked up on it. In fact, Mdinaradze’s multiple comments on this topic were largely ignored. Soon afterward, the ruling party leaders restarted initiating the Foreign Influence law.
Finally, this is not the first time the foreign agent law was initiated. In March 2023, Georgian Dream introduced an almost identical version of this bill, but it had to retract it after protests erupted in Georgia’s capital. Many hope that this second initiation will lead to the same resolution and that this will be the last time this bill is proposed. Meanwhile, protests in Tbilisi are gaining more attention, both within Georgia and internationally, from Moscow to Washington D.C.