By Vakhtang Maisaia Ph. D. in political science, Central-European Institute of Research and Strategic Analysis (CIRSA) International Expert on National Security Studies (Republic of Poland)
The main reason in Georgia’s instability caused by introduction to the Parliamentary adoption law draft on “Foreign Influence Transparency” prepared by the ruling “The Georgian Dream” Party. As is known, on April 8, 2024 the Georgian ruling party “Georgian Dream” has registered the draft of the Law on “Foreign Influence Transparency”. This is almost copy of those drafts submitted by the ruling party at the beginning of March 2023, when by that time the Parliament of Georgia discussed draft laws (2 documents) “on agents of foreign influence” and supported by the first hearing (with 76 votes) the first bill. The draft was adopted by the Parliament on second hearing on 27 April, 2024 with 83 members consent and 22 one’s rejection. The third procedure adoption is sought to be arranged on 17 May, 2024. After the one, the President should sign the bill and if it fails (current President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili has firm decision to put veto and block the law draft), afterwards the Parliament once more debates the draft in order to overcome the veto done by the President and when it happens, the Chairman of the Parliament if Georgia signs the bill draft for taking into force the one.
The discussion of the mentioned draft laws took place against the background of fierce protests both in the parliament and outside the parliament. The bills were submitted by the political party “People’s Power”, which is a satellite party of the ruling party, “Georgian Dream”. Initially, the draft law “On transparency of foreign influence” was registered in the parliament. To “ensure transparency”, the mentioned draft law required the registration as agents of foreign influence of such non-entrepreneurial (non-commercial) legal entities and media means, whose income (more than 20%) is received from abroad. But by that time the draft acceptance was failed due to the massive protest rally by the Georgian society and the draft was called back forcefully and discussion about it had been postponed until today and since today it became valid. According to the draft law, everyone who was considered to be an “agent of foreign influence” had to be registered in the public registry with the same name in a mandatory manner. At the time of registration, it would be necessary to reflect the received income. At the same time, the organizations were obliged to fill in the financial declaration every year. The draft law on “detection of agents of foreign influence” granted the Ministry of Justice the authority to conduct an investigation and study-monitoring of the issue at any time. According to the same project, the basis for starting the monitoring should have been the decision of the relevant authorized person of the Ministry of Justice and the written statement submitted to the Ministry of Justice, which “contains an appropriate reference related to a specific agent of foreign influence”. Avoiding registration as an agent of foreign influence or not filling out the declaration would result in the organization being fined 25 thousand Georgian Lari (GEL). The project also provided for the following types of fines:
- 10 thousand GEL if the organization does not fill out the application form within 10 working days from the entry of the information on the website of the Ministry of Justice;
- in case of non-correction of defects in the documents within the specified period – 10 thousand GEL;
- Committing a legal offense after one month – 20 thousand GEL. As for the second bill on – “Foreign Influence Transparency”, taking into account the mentioned bill, any natural and legal person who would receive funding from abroad should have the obligation to register as a foreign agent. Non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of the obligation stipulated by the Law draft on “Foreign Influence Transparency” would result in criminal liability and would be punishable by a fine or imprisonment for a term of up to 5 years. According to the draft, entities that met the criteria of being an agent of a foreign power established by the draft law were required to apply to the Attorney General and request to be registered as an agent of a foreign power.
The said law would not apply to diplomats, consuls, and employees of the diplomatic service and consular institution. The law would also not apply to foreign officials, a person engaged in charitable activities (authorities of Georgia very often underline that Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is considered an oligarch by the west is involved only in charitable activities), and a person “engaging in religious, educational, scientific, academic, or artistic activities in good faith.”
The Georgian draft law on “Foreign Influence Transparency” is very alike to the almost same name law of the Russian Federation adopted on 14 July 2022 – Federal Law on “Control on Activities Actors Acted in aegis of Foreign Influence”. In order to confirm why the Georgian version of the draft has been copied pasted for the Russian similar one (at least the titles of the both ones are very alike and equal) is necessary to have an idea what is content of the Russian law in itself.
The Russian law also excludes “foreign agents” from key aspects of public life. These include bans on joining the civil service, participating in electoral commissions, acting in an advisory or expert capacity in official or public environmental impact assessments, in independent anti-corruption expertise of draft laws and by-laws, or electoral campaigns or even donating to such campaigns or to political parties. To avoid the “foreign agent” label, an organization needs to ensure that no source of any donation was at any stage “tainted” by “foreign influence,” including indirectly. The law defines “foreign influence” as “support” from foreign sources that includes funding, technical assistance, or other undefined kinds of assistance and/or open-ended “impact” that constitutes coercion, persuasion, and/or “other means.” Foreign sources include not only foreign states or foreign entities, but also international organizations, presumably including such multilateral organizations as the United Nations. The law considers Russian nationals or organizations “foreign sources” if they are respectively considered by the Russian authorities to be under “foreign influence” or to be beneficiaries of “foreign funding.” Foreign sources include not only foreign states or foreign entities, but also international organizations, presumably including such multilateral organizations as the United Nations. The law considers Russian nationals or organizations “foreign sources” if they are respectively considered by the Russian authorities to be under “foreign influence” or to be beneficiaries of “foreign funding.”
The absolutely the same content is relevant to above-mentioned the Russian law content is referred to the Georgian law draft “On Foreign Influence Transparency”. For more clearness in that regard, it is possible to demonstrate in below chart:
