<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Georgia’s parliament on Tuesday passed the third and final reading of a “foreign agents” bill, clearing a major hurdle on its way to becoming law.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The draft now goes to President Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, controlled by the ruling party and its allies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Georgian television broadcast scuffles between the ruling party and opposition lawmakers, who pushed each other and gesticulated angrily during the debate on the bill, which government critics and Western countries have criticised as authoritarian and Russian-inspired.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Opponents of the bill, seen as a test of whether the South Caucasus country stays on a path towards integration with Europe or pivots back towards Russia, have called for further protests.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The bill passed with 84 members of parliament out of 150 voting in favour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It would require organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence, imposing onerous disclosure requirements and punitive fines for violations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Opponents have dubbed the bill “the Russian law”, comparing it to Russian legislation used to target critics of President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Georgia’s government says the bill is needed to promote transparency, combat “pseudo-liberal values” promoted by foreigners, and preserve the country’s sovereignty. - Reuters&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>