Arguing that the law jeopardizes Georgia’s approximation with the European Union (EU) with a view to future membership, Zurabishvili vetoed the legislation on 18 May after it was passed in parliament by lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party and its allies. The bloc holds enough seats in parliament to override the presidential veto. The Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence is almost identical to a bill that Georgia’s parliament tried to pass in 2023 but withdrew after mass protests. In the new version, Georgian Dream replaced the term “foreign agents” with “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”. Demonstrators, who gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Tbilisi, again denounced the legislation as a “Russian-style” initiative that would roll back rights and freedoms. Waving EU and Georgian flags, the protesters, who were fewer in number than at demonstrations earlier this month, insisted on the South Caucasus country’s European path, the Sova news website reported. Lawmakers, who passed the legislation in a third and final reading and have the power to overturn the president’s decision, are expected to give final approval to the measure later on Tuesday, parliament speaker Shalva Papuashvili said. Protesters, who were kept at a distance from parliament by police cordons, said overriding the presidential veto would be “a step backwards” for the country, which would “give up on its EU and NATO aspirations”. Georgian Dream, the centrist party of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, argues that the law is needed to counter malign foreign influence seeking to destabilise the Caucasus country of 3.7 million people. “It is absolutely crucial for Georgia,” Maka Botchorishvili, a ruling party lawmaker who chairs the parliamentary committee on EU integration, told The Associated Press on Monday. She said the law would make the country “stable and peaceful” and rejected opposition claims that it was a “Russian law”. “I believe that if there is a real understanding of what the purpose of this law is, nobody will be able to prove that transparency can contradict European integration,” Botchorishvili said, adding that she expected Western partners to “better understand the necessity of this legislation in Georgia”. Read Also: Georgia announces vote today to override veto on controversial law (in Portuguese)