On Friday 7 February, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, and the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, condemned Georgia’s continuing move away from democratic standards.
“We are witnessing the Georgian authorities taking further steps away from democratic standards. The rushed adoption of amendments to the Code on Administrative Offences, Criminal Code and the Law on Assemblies and Manifestations will have far-reaching effects on Georgian society. They will significantly undermine the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, and media freedom”, they warned in a press release.
According to Ms Kallas and Ms Kos, these developments are a serious setback for Georgia’s democratic development and do not meet the expectations of an EU candidate country. They urged the authorities to suspend these measures, to refrain from further tension and to await the opinion of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
Conversely, the ruling party has announced that it will replace its ‘foreign influence law’ with an “exact copy, word for word” of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act.
The High Representative and the Commissioner also denounced the “intimidation tactics and violence” used by the authorities “to silence dissenting voices”, calling on them to release all journalists, activists and political prisoners “unjustly” detained. They urged the authorities to “ensure a dialogue with all political forces and representatives of civil society. No option should be excluded to re-establish trust and dialogue”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)