Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the Foreign Agents Bill with 425 votes for, 25 against, and 30 abstentions.
The joint resolution is based upon the five drafts of resolutions that MEPs proposed on April 22, and includes five amendments. These include the ones calling for sanctions to be imposed against Honorary Chairman of Georgian Dream Bidzina ivanishvili and the withdrawal from the proposed anti-LGBTQ+ Constitutional Amendments.
The resolution states that the draft law is incompatible with Georgia’s democratic values, and EU aspirations. It also stresses that “EU accession talks should not be opened while this law is part Georgia’s legal system.” The resolution also highlights the threat that the law poses to civil societies and human rights generally, which “runs contrary to the Copenhagen criteria for EU Membership,” and calls on European Commission to provide a interim assessment of Georgia’s implementation of nine EU conditions.
The adopted amendments call for sanctions against Bidzina, for the release of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili (2 amendments), for the European Commission’s immediate assessment of the impact of Georgia’s draft ‘foreign agents’ law on Georgia’s continued achievement of the visa-liberalization benchmarks and for the withdrawal of the anti-LGBTQ+ constitution amendments.
Related story: European parliament to vote on resolution on Georgia’s “foreign influences” law
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