The Parliamentary Bureau referred the President’s veto to the “Russian law” to the Legal Affairs Committee for consideration.
The session of the Committee on Legal Issues has not yet been added to the announcements of the Parliament. Therefore, at this stage, it is not known when the veto committee review will take place.
However, it is known that the ruling team plans to override the President’s veto in the next session week. Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili announced today, May 20.
The current week is non-sessional, therefore only committee discussions are taking place in the Parliament. According to the regulations, the motivated remarks of the President, or veto, should be considered by the Parliament first at the committee, and then at the plenary session.
“Today, through the bureau, [the veto] will be handed over to the legal affairs committee, which will consider it, and then [it will be granted] by itself in the next session week,” Shalva Papuashvili said.
On May 18, President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed the “Russian law.” She claimed that the “Russian law” is not subject to any kind of change or improvement.
The United States has openly stated that if the law goes into effect, it will impose sanctions on those who support the law and their families, as well as those who abuse activists who oppose the law.
Western partners claim that the adoption of this law will finally close the door of the European future for Georgia, because “there is no place for such legislation in Europe”.
Thousands of protests against the Russian law have been taking place for several weeks now. Such a law has become a repressive tool in the hands of the Russian authorities, as a result of which independent media and civil organizations have now disappeared from Russia, and it is also used to restrict and pressure individuals.
Related story: POLITICO: US could sanction Georgia politicians to ‘defend democracy’