The impact of the situation in the East, a controversial resolution, a tough initiative – Georgia in a week

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the key events of the past week for Georgia

The past week has been rich in political events and more, both on the international stage and within the country itself. It's time to recall the key topics in the “Georgia in a Week” section, specially prepared for Sputnik Georgia.

Escalation in the Middle East and Georgia

The main global event this week was the conflict between Israel and Iran, which also affected Georgia.

The Georgian embassies in Israel and Iran opened hotlines and urged Georgian citizens to follow the instructions of local authorities, as well as issuing instructions on how to leave the countries. Several hundred citizens were evacuated from Israel and Iran.

Meanwhile, the Georgian authorities have stated that they intend to act as pragmatically as possible and take all necessary measures to maintain peace and stability in the country.

Controversial resolution and new EU rules

This week, relations between Georgia and the European Union were once again one of the key topics. The European Parliament adopted a resolution entitled “Freedom of the media in Georgia, in particular the case of Mzia Amaglobeli,” in which it demanded the release of the founder of the opposition Georgian media outlet who was detained for assaulting a police officer while on duty, as well as others detained during the protests. At the same time, the resolution refers to the Georgian authorities as “self-proclaimed.”

Georgia reacted negatively to the resolution, calling it another manifestation of the actions of the “deep state.”

Against the backdrop of the scandalous resolution, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pavel Gerchinsky confirmed that the events in Georgia will be the subject of a meeting of EU foreign ministers next week, where the issue of imposing sanctions against Georgia, the visa-free regime, and disinformation against the EU by the Georgian authorities will be discussed.

The topic of elections as a topic for scandal

Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the EU scandal, the Georgian government made another high-profile decision. Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that the government would not invite the ODIHR/OSCE mission to observe the local elections, as it would be unnecessary to burden them with this.

The OSCE/ODIHR mission reports are key to assessing the legitimacy of elections in Georgia, and it is these reports that the country's government refers to in order to confirm that the elections are fair and honest.

The refusal to invite the observer mission for the Georgian opposition confirmed that the authorities had prepared the ground for election fraud and that there was no point in the opposition participating in these elections.

The law on “foreign agents” comes into force

This week, the Anti-Corruption Bureau applied to the Tbilisi City Court for information on the finances of several non-governmental organizations: Transparency International Georgia, Sapare, Academy of the Future, Civil Society Foundation, and the Center for Economic Policy Research.

After reviewing the information, the Bureau will finally be able to register the first “foreign agent,” as no organization has applied for registration in the 20 days since the law came into effect.

In response, 23 other organizations, including leading NGOs, have stated that they do not recognize the new law and will not apply for registration.

New initiative for foreigners

Another topic of discussion this week was a new initiative regarding foreign citizens being introduced in Georgia.

In particular, according to this initiative, Georgia will develop a new mechanism for issuing special work permits for the employment of foreigners and criteria for issuing such permits.

The labor/entrepreneurial activities of foreign nationals in Georgia will also be regulated, and new mechanisms will be introduced to ensure compliance with the norms established by law, including fines for those working illegally.

High-profile arrest

This week, the Tbilisi City Court ordered the detention of activist Nino Datashvili, who is accused of assaulting a bailiff while he was performing his official duties.

According to the investigation, on June 9 of this year, in the Tbilisi City Court, a bailiff called on the defendant to comply with the order, but the defendant did not obey and verbally insulted the bailiffs, and then attacked one of the bailiffs and physically assaulted him.

Datashvili's arrest and preventive measure sparked another wave of protests.

Reproduced from https://sputnik-georgia.ru/