UPDATE - Georgia’s parliament overrides president’s veto on ‘foreign influence’ bill

ADDS FURTHER DETAILS ON PARLIAMENT'S PLENARY SESSION, UPCOMING PROCESS REGARDING BILL, AND REACTIONS FROM ABROAD

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday overrode President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto of the “foreign influence” bill passed earlier this month.

During a plenary session in the country’s capital Tbilisi, 66 lawmakers voted against Zourabichvili’s veto, while none opposed, Georgia’s public broadcaster reported.

The broadcaster said the parliament also voted on the original version of the bill, with 84 in favor and four against.

The bill will now be resubmitted to the president, who will have five days to approve it. If Zourabichvili does not sign the bill within five days, it will be signed into law by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili.

"The Georgian people overwhelmingly want to join the EU. But the law on foreign influence transparency goes against core principles & values of the EU, negatively impacting Georgia's EU path," EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X regarding the vote.

She said they are considering "all options," urging the Georgian government to "recommit to the EU aspirations."

A day earlier, the parliament’s legal affairs committee rejected Zourabichvili’s veto of the bill “On Transparency of Foreign Influence,” which has been criticized by the EU and US.

On May 18, Zourabichvili declared that she vetoed the bill, days after it was adopted by a majority vote in the third and final reading by parliament.

The bill requires organizations, including media outlets, which receive more than 20% of their funding from overseas, to register with the state. It also requires them to publish annual financial reports.

The bill, which was first introduced in March 2023, was shelved after it triggered mass protests that resulted in the arrest of 66 people and the injury of more than 50 law enforcement officers but was reintroduced to parliament early last month, reigniting the protests.

Critics say the bill would undermine democracy, labeling it a "Russian law," but members of the ruling majority argue it would increase transparency.