28 April 2024. Georgia was once considered a democratic beacon of hope in Eastern Europe. Together with its neighbours Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, it has been a member of the EU’s Eastern Partnership for 15 years, signed an Association and Free Trade Agreement with the EU eight years ago and applied for EU membership on 3 March 2022.
But the Caucasian state has been in turmoil since exactly one year ago, when the government tried to push through a controversial “agent law” for state control of non-governmental organisations, which triggered massive protests from the civilian population. Now Irakli Kobakhidze of the pro-Russian “Georgian Dream” party, who was elected Prime Minister in February, has put the “agent law” back on the agenda after its failure last year. According to the law, all non-governmental organisations that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from abroad and “act in the interests of a foreign power” must be registered. Since then, thousands have again taken to the streets of Tbilisi to demonstrate against the government’s pro-Russian course, which is likely to make Georgia’s EU membership a distant prospect.
Among the protesters is Giorgi Dvalishvili, a news reporter for TV Pirveli, who took part in last year’s M100YEJ. “Government propaganda claims that a similar law is in force in several European countries and the United States of America, which is not true and is known to a large part of the Georgian population,” he writes. “Despite widespread protests, the government shows no intention of retracting the draft law, which could lead to even larger demonstrations and potentially endangering protesters, as representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and special forces have shown their aggressiveness and resorted to physical retaliation. At this difficult time, I advocate for increased involvement from our allies, leveraging available resources, including sanctions, which top government officials fear.”
