MEP Cramon welcomes Georgian Dream move to recall “Russian law” on foreign agents

MEP Viola von Cramon on Thursday welcomed the decision of the ruling Georgian Dream party to withdraw the controversial bill on transparency of foreign influence, citing it a “Russian law.  The MEP said in her social media post the party would have prevented “all this drama” if it had listened to its people and the country’s friends from the start. 

 

“Voice of people can not be silenced, fighting for freedom and European values always makes sense”, the MEP said. 

 

Despite the party’s official announcement to recall the bill that envisages the registration of domestic NGOs and media organizations as foreign agents if they obtain more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad, the civil activists announced a rally in central Tbilisi at 7 p.m. anyway, claiming the GD was able to “cheat” the people. 

 

According to procedures, the bill should be voted on with its second reading and rejected, with the GD having not announced the date for this procedure so far.