In Georgia, the controversial NGO and media bill, which has sparked massive and harshly repressed protests over the past two days, was finally withdrawn by the ruling party. The bill, which passed its first reading on Tuesday, required NGOs and media outlets receiving more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents" or face a fine.
The announcement comes a day after massive protests in the capital Tbilisi in which police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse tens of thousands of people gathered near parliament.
Abandoned, but not buried
Critics said it was inspired by a similar law in Russia, where the Kremlin uses it to crack down on the independent press, human rights organizations and opponents. In its statement, the Georgian Dream party said the bill had been "misrepresented in a misleading light", adding that it would launch public consultations to "better explain" the purpose of the bill.
The governing party is therefore not completely closing the door to a future return of this bill to Parliament.
The protests that rocked Georgia on Tuesday and Wednesday are part of a wider political crisis in the Caucasus country, which officially aspires to join the EU and NATO. The delegation of the European Union in Georgia welcomed on Thursday the announcement of the withdrawal of this text.
"We welcome the announcement by the ruling party of the withdrawal of the draft law on 'foreign influence'," the EU delegation in Tbilisi said on Twitter. "We encourage all political leaders in Georgia to resume pro-European reforms," she added.
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