On the evening of March 22, a rally was held in the capital of Georgia in support of the MEGOBARI Act bill, which is being considered in the United States. The bipartisan initiative to review relations with official Tbilisi will be discussed in the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 27.
Participants in yesterday's rally held Georgian and American flags, as well as portraits of President Donald Trump, Congressman Joe Wilson, who is the author of the MEGOBARI Act, and Senator Jim Risch, who introduced the document to the upper house of Congress. The demonstrators also brought posters calling for sanctions against the leadership of the ruling party.
The Mobilizing and Enhancing Georgia's Options for Building Accountability, Resilience, and Independence (MEGOBARI Act) was initiated in response to the country's deviation from democracy. The bill provides for a review of US-Georgia relations, including all aid programs, and requires US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions against the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party and their accomplices. At the same time, the document talks about the liberalization of the visa regime between the US and Georgia, the expansion of economic cooperation and a broad security support package - all of which will be implemented if Tbilisi returns to the path of democracy and abandons anti-Western rhetoric.
Earlier, Georgian Dream member Archil Gorduladze said that the MEGOBARI Act "is not worth the paper it is written on" since it was proposed by senators who hate Georgia. Such blackmail, according to Gorduladze, makes no sense.
In January, the political council of the ruling party of Georgia published a statement on the West's sanctions policy, the "Global War Party" and the "Deep State" conspiracy theory. The Georgian Dream was particularly critical of Joe Wilson, claiming that he was lobbying for the interests of the Georgian opposition for money. In particular, the discussion was about the congressman being financed by former Georgian Defense Minister David Kezerashvili – a claim that Wilson soon rejected.
