In Georgia, the impending passage of a controversial ''foreign agents'' law will raise the stakes for the October 2024 election, but the ruling party is still set to win another term, which would ensure the continued stagnation of the country's Western integration in the years ahead. On May 14, the Georgian Parliament passed the divisive foreign agents bill in a third and final reading despite continued protests against the law, which critics argue is intended to stifle media and civil society organizations by subjecting entities that receive over 20% of their funding from abroad to stringent reporting requirements. The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party first attempted to pass the bill in March 2023, but backed off after several days of protests. At the time, GD was also concerned the law could derail its push to receive EU candidate status (which Brussels later granted in December). This time around, the government...
