Tbilisi, GEORGIA – The Georgian Parliament gave final approval on Tuesday to the “Foreign Agents” bill yesterday after many violent protests and arrests.
The Georgian Premier Minister Irakli Kobakhidze mentioned earlier throughout the other propaganda media that more than 60% of the people support the initiated bill.
But an estimated 100,000 protestors came across the capital Tbilisi when the EU Parliament suggested that the changes in Georgia could jeopardize its path to EU membership.
The EU Parliament mentioned revising the European Union candidacy status for Georgia and the visa liberalization towards EU countries, blocking Georgian nationals from moving towards a European future.
Georgians opposed to the bill say it follows Russia’s influence and would put the country more in line with the Kremlin than the EU.
Following the timeline and expectations from the government and after final approval of the bill, the Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has the constitutional right to veto it.
If she does veto it, then there is a period of 10 days for the Georgian Parliament to revise it. If after of all these procedures, Parliament still decides to approve the law, and at the final stage it does not get signed by the president, the President of the Parliament will sign it and it will become law.
Earlier last week Zurabishvili said she would veto the “Foreign Agents” law, also called the “Foreign Influence Bill.”
The choice for many decades for the Georgian people has been Europe and a European future. The protests, which continue after a month of strikes and hundreds of arrests, show that the Georgian people are not losing their will to fight for a European future.
Nicolo Vincenzo Malvestuto is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
