No one can say that transparency is not good, we will accept one or the other law in any case

Chairman of "Georgian Dream", Irakli Kobakhidze, states that both versions of the law on "agents" will be supported in the first reading in the parliament. According to him, after that, they will wait for the conclusion of the Venice Commission and will continue to discuss the bill on which they will receive a positive conclusion.

Kobakhidze says that the bill will be accepted in any case.

"In any cases, a conclusion will be presented regarding the details of the draft law, no one can naturally say that transparency is not appropriate. There may be individual comments regarding one or the other or both laws, we will naturally have a discussion on these comments, but a priori it is excluded that either , or on the other, or on both, a negative conclusion can be presented, certain remarks or recommendations can be presented only on details, therefore, we will either adopt one or the other law in any cases, before that we will wait for the conclusion of the Venice Commission," - said Kobakhidze.

For information, on February 27, the MP of the parliamentary majority and the member of "People's Power", Dimitri Khundadze, announced that both versions of the bills initiated by them will be sent to the Venice Commission. As a reminder, the so-called "renegades" and MPs who formally left the Dream have introduced a bill on "transparency of foreign influence" in parliament. According to the initiative, any media outlet or non-governmental organisation that receives more than 20 per cent of its income from abroad must be registered as an "agent of foreign influence". A spin-off group known for its anti-American and anti-Western rhetoric argues that the law ensures transparency. Georgian Dream is known to intend to support the bill. The initiative was criticized by the Western partners - the press spokesman of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell, said that the adoption of the draft law would be incompatible with the norms and values of the EU. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called on the political factions not to support the bill. The US ambassador to Georgia also criticized the bill. Kelly Degnan called it a Russian law and said it aims to stigmatize and silence civil society. According to the UN, the draft law threatens the activities of civil society and the media.