TBILISI. April 15 (Interfax) - Representatives of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party and the country's opposition still cannot reach agreement on the draft legislation On the Transparency of Foreign Influence, which has been discussed in the parliament's judicial committee for more than eight hours.
The bill has little in common with the Russian law on foreign agents, as it suggests only reporting about multi-million foreign grants spent by Georgian non-governmental organizations, information which is currently unavailable to the public, parliamentary majority leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said when presenting his report on the bill on Monday.
The bill does not envisage any punitive measures, he said.
"Similar laws are in force in the United States, Britain, Canada, [and] Australia. They are at the stage of adoption in the European Union. Here the question arises for us as to why we can't we pass a bill aimed at our country's national security, and why are the officials of leading foreign nations saying that Georgia needs no such law?" Mdinaradze said.
Levan Khabeishvili, leader of the United National Movement, the largest opposition party in Georgia, said at the parliament session that if the parliamentary majority forcefully passes this bill, it will definitely result in mass protests and the country being destabilized.
"Why do we believe that the bill presented for consideration is an analogue of the Russian foreign agent law? It's completely obvious; the ruling party is leading the country to authoritarian rule where there is no place for any uncontrolled non-governmental organizations, where there is no place for freedom of speech," he said.
Opposition forces are about to begin a demonstration in front of the parliament building to protest against the adoption of the bill On the Transparency of Foreign Influence. People from non-governmental organizations receiving grants from abroad are taking part in the protest, among others. According to official information, there are several thousand such NGOs in Georgia.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who currently remains incarcerated at Vivamed, a civilian clinic, earlier called on social media for his supporters to take part in all protests directed against the passing of the foreign influence transparency bill.