MEP Rasa Jukneviciene has responded to the Georgian Dream’s decision to withdraw both draft laws on “foreign influence” and said that she is "not sure that the Georgian Dream is capable of changing its misguided policy towards the EU."

"Georgian Dream officials when coming to Brussels are speaking nice words about how much they want a candidate status for Georgia, but in reality and on the ground, the party, steered from the backseat by Bidzina Ivanishvili, is dragging Georgia into quite different direction.

This is a Kremlin inspired law, and people of Georgia, who in huge majority are supporting EU membership for Georgia, are protesting because the direction chosen for them by the Georgian Dream is opposite to their will.

It is not sufficient to say in words that the "law is withdrawn". According to Georgia's parliamentary procedures to stop the law which has been adopted at 1st reading it must be voted down in the second reading. So to prove their words, apparently, Georgian Dream MPs must vote against the law.

It was the will of the Georgian people to repeal the foreign agents law because Georgians know that their country belongs in Europe. But I am not sure that the Georgian Dream is capable of evaluating and changing its misguided policy towards the EU," she told the Accent.

A statement issued by the ruling majority on the morning of March 9 says “as a result of the internal consultations,” a decision has been taken to withdraw the draft foreign agents’ law from the Parliament.

The joint statement reads: “We should be most concerned about peace, tranquillity, and economic development in our country, as well as Georgia’s progress on the path of European integration. Therefore, it is necessary to spend the energy of each of our fellow citizens not on confrontation but on the development of the country in the right direction.”

The legal experts point out that since the law “On Transparency of Foreign Funding” has been adopted by the Parliament in the first reading, it can no longer be withdrawn by the MPs that formally initiated it (Parliament Rules of Procedure, Article 101.3). To remove the law from the legislative pipeline, the Parliament would have to vote it down in the second reading (Parliament Rules of Procedure, Article 112, points 16 and 17).