News - Georgia legislature chair signs bill on ‘foreign agents’ into law

Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, has signed the bill "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" into law, after President Salome Zourabichvili, as expected, did not sign this document, SOVA reported. "After 60 days, all organizations [in Georgia] that have considerable foreign funding must be registered on that [electronic] portal. The law will enter into force from tomorrow, but they are obligated to register after 60 days, starting from tomorrow; that is, approximately on September 4-5," Papuashvili said at a press briefing Monday. On May 18, the Georgian president had vetoed this bill, which was passed by 84 MPs in the third reading, and these lawmakers overrode this veto on May 28. This action of the Georgian parliamentarians has caused a wave of criticism in the West. But words of support are heard in Moscow regarding the "consistent position" of the current Georgian authorities, and the "double standards" of the West towards the country are emphasized.