US senators have sent a warning letter to the Georgian government

A bipartisan group of the US Senate has sent a letter to the prime minister of Georgia on Friday, warning that if the “foreign agents” law is passed, they will be forced to ask for a change in US policy towards Georgia.

14 senators sent the letter to the head of the Georgian government, Irakli Kobahidze. This document is the sharpest in terms of content of all the other statements of the Senate.

In the letter, the senators called on the Georgian government to withdraw the law, which threatens US-Georgia relations and increases the possibility of sanctions against certain individuals, the end of direct government funding and the expansion of visa restrictions.

The senators also reject claims by Georgia’s ruling party, Georgia Dream, that the “foreign agents” law is similar to the US FARA law.

At the end of the letter, the senators promise that they will never abandon “the efforts of the people of Georgia, who have loudly and clearly expressed their position in favor of a democratic and European future that everyone can hear.”

They noted that US-Georgia relations are based on mutual interests and shared values, and each of them strongly supports further deepening of these relations.

However, they also state that the relationship cannot “continue until this law is repealed.”

On April 28, Tbilisi is preparing for a large rally against the law on “foreign agents”, which threatens Georgia’s progress towards the West and integration into Europe.

The second reading of the bill is scheduled for April 29. On the same day, the ruling party “Georgian Dream” invited its supporters to a rally.

The bill has sparked protests in Georgia and raised concerns in the West, with many seeing it as an obstacle to Georgia’s efforts to join the European Union (EU).

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced the bill to parliament earlier this month, a year after it was forced to drop an almost identical proposal amid protests.

The law would require non-governmental and media organizations that receive more than 20% foreign funding to register as organizations “acting in the interest of a foreign country.” That phrasing is the only difference from a draft withdrawn last year, which said the groups in question would have to register as “agents of foreign influence”.

Opponents of the bill refer to it as “Russia’s law” and argue that passing the law would prevent Georgia from realizing its goal of joining the European Union, which last year granted the country long-coveted candidate status.

The EU has called on Tbilisi not to accept the bill, saying it runs counter to the democratic reforms the country must undertake to move towards EU membership. The President of the European Council Charles Michel stated that the draft law moves Georgia away from the EU instead of bringing it closer to it.

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has announced that she will not sign the bill if parliament approves it. But the president’s veto may not last long. Zurabishvili’s term ends this year, and under constitutional changes, the next president will be appointed by an electoral college made up of all members of parliament.