Georgia has erupted in protest once again, as the ruling Georgian Dream party pursues a "foreign agents" bill in parliament – something that has left a question mark hanging over the country’s European ambitions. The EU granted the ex-Soviet nation candidate status to join the bloc last December. We speak to Georgia's President Salomé Zourabichvili, who plans to veto the final draft of the law, but admits that parliament can still override her veto. That makes the October 26 election even more crucial for re-asserting the country’s European path, she says.
Zourabichvili explains that, contrary to what Georgia's ruling party says, the draft law is not equivalent to transparency legislation in Western countries. "It's an exact copy of the law that was passed by Russia and which allowed Russia to clamp down on nongovernmental organisations first and on the media next," she says. "And the Georgian authorities are pushing this law for the second time. Last year they declined to go forward with it, and now they are proposing the same law and their aim and objective is no different."
