Georgia’s future no longer in hands of foreign agents, it belongs to patriots – PM

Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday claimed his country’s future was “no longer in the hands of foreign agents and those acting in accordance with the interests of foreign states”, stressing the future “belongs to patriots”. 

 

The PM’s comment came on the heels of ongoing controversies over the foreign agents bills proposed by former members of the ruling party who still remain in the parliamentary majority,  and who have been criticizing the US and the west since the creation of their People’s Power movement last year. 

 

The bills envisage the registration of domestic NGOs and media organizations as foreign agents if they obtain more than 20 percent of their incomes from abroad, the initiatives condemned by the international community as a “Russian law”. 

 

“We know many NGOs that are directly fighting the state, holding anti-government rallies with foreign funding, and [ensure]  many provocative events that do not serve the national interests of our country”, Garibashvili said. 

 

He once again criticized the “radical wing” of the domestic opposition and reiterated the United National Movement – the largest opposition group in the country – had been engaged in “torture and a number of illegal actions” while in office between 2004 and 2012.

 

Garibashvili claimed the opposition enjoyed a ‘very low public trust’, while “50-60 percent” of the country’s population was supporting the current authorities. 

 

The latest NDI polls last year said 24 percent supported the ruling Georgian Dream party, while more than 40 percent of the country’s population was “undecided” .