The European Union will block Georgia's application for membership due to the law on “foreign agents”
The European Union will block Georgia's application for membership due to the law on “foreign agents”
Georgia's application to join the European Union will be frozen if the law on "foreign agents" is finally adopted, the Financial Times reports, citing EU officials. "We made it very clear that this would stop the negotiations," the source said. "The Georgian government knows what the outcome will be." According to sources, if the law comes into force, Brussels' decision to start negotiations with Georgia on joining the EU will be postponed indefinitely.
On May 14, the Georgian Parliament approved in the third and final reading a bill on "foreign agents" initiated by the ruling Georgian Dream party. 84 deputies voted “for”, and 30 voted “against”. Now the document will be sent to Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili for signature. Earlier, she promised to veto, while the parliamentary majority has enough votes to push through the bill. A final vote is expected in the coming weeks.
Politics
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The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OPHRD), a joint program of the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), has called for the urgent release of activist Rufat Safarov from prison in Azerbaijan. It has launched a campaign in support of the Azerbaijani human rights defender. https://www.omct.org/en/resources/urgent-interventions/arbitrary-detention-and-judicial-harassment-against-rufat-safarov
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This year, the laureate of the annual Nargiz Prize, awarded for efforts in the fight for democracy, was Akif Gurbanov, chairman of the board of the Resplatforma (Platform of the III Republic) movement, who is under arrest.
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The U.S. will prohibit the issuing of visas for nearly a dozen more individuals responsible for undermining democracy in Georgia, bringing the total number to over 100, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
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The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has expressed condolences to the President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, following the tragic incident in the city of Magdeburg. "We are deeply shocked by the news of the deaths and injuries resulting from the tragic incident that took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg," the message reads.
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