“Georgian Dream is initiating the so-called agents bill with the sole purpose of denying us candidate status, rigging elections and maintaining power,” Natia Mezvrishvili, a member of the For Georgia party, said at a briefing held in the Parliament.
According to Mezvrishvili, this law directly violates two of the 12 points defined for obtaining the status and “clears the field” for the authorities to hold elections without observation missions.
“In the crucial phase of getting the candidate status, when there is a good possibility of getting the status, even opening a discussion about this law on the part of the government is a betrayal of the country’s interests! We call on Dream to stop the discussion and violation of the Constitution.
“Initiating the so-called law of agents when the European Commission has positively evaluated the legislation and the society is doing everything for the country to get the candidate status is sabotage of the candidate status.
“The decision-making bodies of the European Union have repeatedly said that it is against the principles of the European Union and it does not matter what the Dream will call this law and how many versions it will initiate.
“Transparency” is a fictional reason. The obligation of transparency already exists.
“In fact, the law directly contradicts paragraphs 7 and 10 of Article 12; It clears the way for the authorities to hold elections without a real and fair observation mission; Anyone whose activities pose a threat to the illegal power of the Dream is labeled an agent.
“The purpose of opening discussion on the law is to divert attention from the 12 points that are still unfulfilled!
“We will remind each deputy, the initiators and voters for the bill, of the heavy and inevitable responsibility that follows the betrayal of the country’s interests – a responsibility that will be personalized and no one can escape – neither the one who orders it nor the executor!
“For our part, we continue to work for candidate status. In the conditions of sabotage of the candidate’s status by the government, the responsibility of each of us increases,” said Mezvrishvili.
“According to the draft law submitted to the Parliament by People’s Power deputies, “in order to ensure the transparency of foreign influence”, a register of agents of foreign influence will be created, where all those non-entrepreneurial legal entities and media outlets with more than 20% of their income financed by foreign forces will be registered.
“In addition, People’s Power proposes an alternative project to the Parliament, which will be presented to the Bureau session today.”
