Georgian Dream announces more restrictive laws - this time the main recipients of the legislative amendments are the media and non-governmental organizations.

This is the second package announced by Georgian Dream in the last three days, which was preceded by the initiation of a legislative package restricting the freedom of expression, assembly and manifestation in the Georgian Dream parliament.

The changes announced today - which one of the party leaders, Mamuka Mdinaradze, introduced to the public, include:

The "Media Law"

A stricter version of the Russian-style "Agents Law". The "Georgian Dream" is also introducing several other initiatives, including restrictions on the receipt of any form of foreign funding for public sector employees - even trainings.

According to Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgian Dream plans to adopt the changes within the next two months. He later clarified that they are not planned to be adopted in an accelerated manner: "We will manage to adopt these laws within about two, maximum three months."

According to him, the law will establish "standards of media objectivity, as well as journalistic ethics." It will also define "institutional mechanisms for monitoring and protecting the aforementioned standards."

"The funding of media outlets from foreign sources will be restricted," Mamuka Mdinaradze said. "Naturally, this does not apply to income from commercial advertising and other such sources," he added.

"Agents’ Law" – for the third time

"Georgian Dream" first adopted the Russian-style "Agents’ Law" in 2023, which it withdrew after protest demonstrations. Later, in 2024, it adopted it again, with a changed name. This time, "Georgian Dream" announces the adoption of the law in an even stricter form.

Mamuka Mdinaradze says that in 2024, the parliament adopted "a light version of FARA [the US "Foreign Agents Registration Act"], which, he said, "has not yet been fully implemented."

"However, you know that despite its entry into force, several dozen of the largest NGOs have not even been registered in the registry," he said.
"We will initiate a bill that will be a direct copy of the current version of the American FARA," Mdinaradze added.

When asked for clarification, he said that he did not intend to discuss the details of FARA: "If anyone is interested in what will be initiated, they should read the law that is currently in force in the US."

Mdinaradze also said that the new US government "admitted that American funding was used to support unrest and revolution in various countries, including Georgia."

No similar statement has been made by US government representatives regarding Georgia.

"The more pressure, coercion, blackmail, and attempts to encroach on Georgia’s independence, create unrest, and chaos, the more severe the response to all of this will be, and both legal and political responses will continue to prevent all of this, so that no one ever dares to interfere in internal affairs," Mdinaradze said.

Exclusion of NGO Participation

One of Mamuka Mdinaradze’s listed initiatives was the participation of NGOs and civil society organizations in the lawmaking process.

"Norms that provide for the mandatory participation of NGOs in the process of making public decisions will be removed from absolutely all laws and bylaws," Mdinaradze said.

Restrictions on receiving foreign funding in the public sector

According to the initiative of the Georgian Dream, public sector employees will be restricted from receiving foreign funding.

"Receiving benefits financed from foreign sources in the public service without the consent of the head of the relevant institution will be restricted,” said Mamuka Mdinaradze.

He listed what this restriction applies to:

"Direct or indirect salary supplements,
We are also talking about funding training,
visits, etc."