Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Friday rejected criticism from the United States and European Union of a draft bill dealing with “foreign agents”, saying his opponents were unwilling to participate in a discussion significant.
The draft legislation, making its way through Georgia’s parliament, would require organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents under foreign influence, a requirement that opponents criticize as authoritarian and Kremlin-inspired.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets again on Friday to express opposition, approaching the headquarters of the ruling Georgian Dream party and then attending a Good Friday mass ahead of Orthodox Easter Sunday.
The European Union and the United States have called on Tbilisi to scrap the legislation, or risk damaging its chances of joining the European Union and a broader future in the Euro-Atlantic.
The impasse is seen as part of a broader issue that could determine whether Georgia, a country of 3.7 million people that has gone through war and revolution since the fall of the Soviet Union, moves closer to Europe or returns to Moscow’s influence. .
Kobakhidze said the legislation is necessary for transparency and accountability in the South Caucasus nation.
He further said that previous US statements had encouraged violence by what he called foreign-funded actors.
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