Georgia's ruling party has said it will reintroduce a repressive bill resembling Russia's "foreign agents" law to parliament, with the intention of passing legislation that sparked mass demonstrations last year, AFP reports.
The Georgian Dream party's surprise announcement came just over a year after it did an about-turn and abandoned the bill under pressure from tens of thousands of protesters in Tbilisi.
In a statement, the party said it had resubmitted the bill, which "will be adopted in all three sessions by the end of the current session" of parliament.
The proposal - condemned by the European Union, which Tbilisi is seeking to join - would target NGOs, media organisations and individual journalists who receive foreign funding. It copies the Kremlin's "foreign agents" law, which is used to silence dissent.
The party said it had changed the wording of the law, saying these groups would now have to register as an "organisation pursuing the interests of a foreign power" instead of an "agent of foreign influence".
Apart from this cosmetic change, "all other parts of the draft law remain unchanged," the party added.
The term "foreign agent" has Soviet-era connotations that suggest such people are traitors and enemies of the state.
Georgia's staunchly pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili, who is in conflict with the ruling party, condemned the move as damaging Georgian democracy and diverting the country from its European path.
"Georgia's European path cannot be stopped ... no one can bring back the past," she said on social media.
"No Russian law or any other destructive policy can prevent a determined nation from achieving its goal."
Several pro-democracy groups - which organised last year's protests - have announced mass rallies against the bill.
"We will oppose with all available means another serious attempt to Russify Georgia," they said in a joint statement.
At protests against the bill in March 2023, demonstrators clashed with police, who fired water cannon and tear gas into crowds.
The move is likely to further fuel deep divisions in Georgia, whose leadership has been accused of retreating from democracy and following Moscow's authoritarian tendencies.
Russia then accused Western countries of fomenting mass protests in Georgia.
Critics accuse Georgian Dream of damaging ties with the EU. According to opinion polls, about 80% of Georgians support joining the bloc.
But the party insists it is committed to Georgia's EU and NATO membership bids, which are enshrined in the former Soviet republic's constitution. / BGNES
