European Parliament condemns Georgia's law on "foreign agents" and considers halting EU accession talks
Kyiv • UNN
The European Parliament condemns Georgia's draft law on "foreign agents", considers it contrary to EU values and Georgia's EU aspirations, calls on the authorities to withdraw the draft law and protect citizens' rights, and expresses concern about the disproportionate use of force against demonstrators.
This is stated in the draft resolution on the Georgian law on "foreign agents", which is published on the website of the European Parliament, writes UNN with reference to Radio Liberty.
Details
Initially, four drafts of the resolution were submitted to the European Parliament, a fifth version was added before the debate, and at the moment the authors of the five working versions have agreed on a common text. MEPs will vote on the final version of the resolution on Thursday, April 25. Despite the emphasis in the previous versions and the statements of MEPs, at this stage the working version of the agreed resolution does not call for sanctions against high-ranking Georgian officials - former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream MPs or high-ranking police officers.
At this stage, the resolution does not envisage either the termination of financial assistance to Georgia or the reconsideration of the issue of visa liberalization, as one of the drafts had envisaged.
However, the draft decision may be amended before voting.
At this time, the draft resolution states that:
- European Parliament condemns the reintroduction of the Foreign Influence Transparency Bill;
- emphasizes that this is not in line with the values of the European Union, contradicts Georgia's ambitions to join the European Union, damages the country's reputation and jeopardizes its Euro-Atlantic integration;
- believes that as long as such a law is in force, the EU should not start accession negotiations with Georgia;
- Calls on Dream to withdraw the bill and not introduce it or any other changes that are contrary to democratic values;
- indicates that the bill betrays the aspirations of the absolute majority of the Georgian people;
- Calls on the authorities to protect the rights of citizens and expresses concern at the disproportionate use of police force in dispersing demonstrators; calls on the authorities to investigate all such incidents and to punish those responsible;
- Condemns that the Georgian government is inspired by similar, highly problematic legislation in Russia, the law on Russian foreign agents;
- recalls that candidate status was granted to Georgia with the proviso that appropriate steps would be taken, including for the free functioning of civil society and to combat misinformation about the European Union and its values;
- Calls on the European Commission to assess Georgia's progress in implementing the 9 recommendations - to prepare an interim evaluation;
- Calls on the European Commission and EU member states to assess the impact of the adoption of the law on their donor role and to clearly explain the consequences to the Georgian authorities; calls on the authorities to return to the European path;
- reiterates its unwavering support for the Georgian people "to achieve legitimate European aspirations";
- Calls on the OSCE/ODIHR to deploy a long-term observation mission to Georgia to observe the parliamentary elections.
On April 23, a debate on the issue was held in Strasbourg. Some MEPs believe that sanctions should be applied to Bidzina Ivanishvili and parliamentarians who support the law, as well as high-ranking police officers, propose to reconsider the liberalization of visa regime with Georgia, as well as to stop financial assistance to the country from the European Union.
Context
According to the newspaper, the Georgian parliament will vote on the second reading of the draft law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" on April 30. The Georgian Dream may approve the bill in the final, third reading in mid-May.
