A “foreign agents” law that has brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets of Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi could be dropped in return for a package of economic and security support from Washington, the ruling party has hinted.
In response to a draft bill tabled in the US Congress that would open up talks on a trade deal in return for fresh commitments on civil rights, the governing Georgian Dream party said in a statement that it would need to see progress on such promises within a year.
The party’s ruling body, known as the political council, issued a statement on Tuesday in which it insisted that the government would not be blackmailed but also signalled that a way out of the crisis was possible if there was swift progress on preferential trade terms and visa liberalisation.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A “foreign agents” law that has brought hundreds of thousands of people on to the streets of Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi could be dropped in return for a package of economic and security support from Washington, the ruling party has hinted.
In response to a draft bill tabled in the US Congress that would open up talks on a trade deal in return for fresh commitments on civil rights, the governing Georgian Dream party said in a statement that it would need to see progress on such promises within a year.
The party’s ruling body, known as the political council, issued a statement on Tuesday in which it insisted that the government would not be blackmailed but also signalled that a way out of the crisis was possible if there was swift progress on preferential trade terms and visa liberalisation.
The EU has warned that the legislation will be an obstacle to membership of the bloc while the US has said that the law and a recent outbreak of anti-western rhetoric was in danger of turning Georgia into an “adversary rather than a partner”.
Protesters have massed outside Georgia’s parliament for the last month, claiming that the former Soviet state’s government is realigning the country with Moscow, three decades after it became an independent republic.
It went on to demand the opening of EU accession talks by the end of the year and assurances that NGOs in Georgia would put aside “revolutionary plans”.
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