— Levan Khabeishvili (@LKhabeishvili) April 30, 2024
EU, US take tough stance
The U.S. State Department said the “Kremlin-inspired” legislation could “limit freedom of expression, stigmatize organizations that deliver these benefits to the citizens of Georgia, and impede independent media organizations working to provide Georgians with access to high quality information.”
But Georgian Dream insists the new rules are needed to protect the country’s sovereignty. Parliamentarians are expected to vote in favor of the bill at a second reading Wednesday.
In a bombastic speech at a rally outside the parliament on Monday night, prominent oligarch and former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili railed against Western-backed NGOs, claiming a “global war party” was responsible for the war in Ukraine, and vowed to punish his “criminal and treasonous” political rivals after elections in October.
“I promise that having overcome these difficulties, with sovereignty and dignity intact, in 2030, Georgia will join the EU,” he insisted.
Unbelievable footage of riot police brutally beating up civilians behind the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi pic.twitter.com/TDwqHaAUj0
— Katie Shoshiashvili (@KShoshiashvili) April 30, 2024
But as Jan-Geert Koopman, the EU’s director-general in charge of enlargement and neighborhood policy, prepared for a trip to Georgia that begins Wednesday, the police violence appeared to be hardening views in Brussels.
Speaking to POLITICO as riot police continued to clear the streets of central Tbilisi, German MEP and European Parliament foreign affairs committee member Viola von Cramon-Taubadel called for Koopman to take a tough line with the government in the wake of the crackdown.