Georgia has stepped back from the brink of civil confrontation after the authorities dropped their toxic foreign agent bills, but tensions continue to simmer amid mistrust towards the ruling party's commitment to democratic freedoms and European integration.

Keeping its promise from the day before, the Georgian parliament on March 10 voted down the draft law "on transparency of foreign influence" – a deeply polarizing piece of legislation that had been approved in the first reading on March 7. Put to a vote without any preamble or debate, the bill was thrown out after it gained only one vote in support from the 112 lawmakers in attendance.  

After the result of the vote appeared on screen in the parliament hall, opposition lawmakers, who had fiercely fought the bill, jubilantly draped the flags of Georgia and the European Union over a rostrum, while a crowd of protesters erupted in celebration outside the building. "We are Europe! No to the Russian law," they chanted. 

It was two days of mass protests and clashes that forced the ruling Georgian Dream party to reverse course on the bills widely seen as a direct attack on critical voices and national hopes for integration with the European Union. "In our final decision we were guided by a reluctance to see damage to the health and life of a single person or child," said senior Georgian Dream member Mamuka Mdinaradze.    

But mistrust toward the government's respect for the country's hard-earned democratic freedoms and the dream of joining the EU runs strong. "The government backed down," Georgia's figurehead President Salome Zourabichvili, an ally-turned-critic of Georgian Dream, told Bloomberg the night before the vote. But the win, she said, "is not the end of this road that we are going on to join the European Union."  

When the Georgian Dream announced plans to jettison the bill on March 9, protesters gathered in the center to celebrate their victory, but mistrust filled the air. "Congratulations! We are one step closer to victory, but we should remain vigilant because we've heard many lies from this government," the famous operatic bass and government critic Paata Burchuladze said at the rally.

As the lawmakers convened in the legislative hall the following morning, protesters gathered outside parliament to keep up the pressure. "Don't make a mistake, make sure to press the red [nay] button," posters read. 

Many take Georgian Dream's promises with a large grain of salt partly because they believe that holding on to power and serving the interest of its billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili are a far bigger priority for party members than democratic freedoms and integration with the EU, a goal supported by the majority of Georgians. 

"Nothing changed on the fundamental level," said Sergi Kapanadze, founder of the GRASS think-tank. "They never said that they pulled the law because it was bad, Russian [in its intent and style] and anti-European. No, they said that they pulled it because of the massive pressure." 

The ruling party had indeed stuck to its guns, insisting that the bill did not threaten Georgia's European future, even though the EU said loudly and clearly that it did. "The law is incompatible with EU values and standards," the EU Delegation in Georgia said in a statement in response to the preliminary adoption of the bill on March 7. "It goes against Georgia's stated objective of joining the EU, as supported by a large majority of Georgian citizens. Its final adoption may have serious repercussions on our relations."

The United States echoed the sentiment. "Today is a dark day for Georgia's democracy," said the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi. "Parliament's advancement of these Kremlin-inspired laws is incompatible with the people of Georgia's clear desire for European integration and its democratic development."

Following the defeat of the bill today, Georgian Dream struck isolationist and ultraconservative notes in its justification of the law. Party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze praised the bill for having exposed organizations that engage, among other things, in "LGBT propaganda" and "denigration of the Church." This only reinforced the belief that the party borrowed the idea for the bill from Russia, where demonization and harassment of civil society and critical media was accompanied by rhetoric about Western-backed LGBT propaganda and attacks on Christian values.   

Putting down the drama of the last few days to a misunderstanding, the party insisted that the bill was not intended to stigmatize the media and non-governmental sector, even though all prominent domestic and international watchdogs claimed otherwise. Georgian Dream officials blamed opposition groups for misleading the international community and Georgian youth. "They are keen to take any step that puts human life in danger," said Kobakhidze. "They egged on the young people to resort to acts of violence."

Political analyst Kornely Kakachia is convinced that after passions die down the Georgian Dream will again try to take an aim at civil liberties and might attempt to jeopardize the nation's European future. "The nature of this regime is such that the only way forward for them is to try to consolidate power," Kakachia, the director of the Georgian Institute of Politics, told Eurasianet. "Otherwise, they are headed for an electoral defeat." (The next parliamentary election is set to be held in fall 2024.)

Skepticism toward the governing party's intentions stems from its long record of hit-and-run politics. Georgian Dream's decade in power has been characterized by a penchant for making deeply unpopular moves and then walking back on them amid fierce public outcry. 

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili's off-hand comment that bucked global solidarity with Ukraine brought a massive crowd to the streets of Tbilisi early last year. He then spoke more strongly in support of Ukraine. Letting a Russian lawmaker make himself at home in the Georgian parliament sparked riots in 2019, leaving ruling party officials apologizing for the distress the appearance caused. A year before, a heavy-handed raid of a famed nightclub touched off a series of youth protests. The interior minister then offered an apology for the raid.       

In these and other cases, the ruling elites found themselves vastly at odds with public sentiments, focused on their own, narrowly partisan interests, and pressing hot buttons until they blew up in their faces. In the case of the foreign agent bills it also took street clashes, vast damage to public health and property, and reputational damage internationally to bring the message home. 

"Faced with a real crisis, they take a step back to take two steps forward later," commented Kakachia. 

The authorities did make steps toward de-escalation beyond scrapping the laws. All 133 individuals arrested on administrative charges during the protests have been released, though investigations are pending. But skeptics are not assuaged about the long-term game of the Georgian Dream. "What we are seeing now is a tactical pause," Kakachia said. 

Still, for now the mood in Georgia is celebratory and commendations are streaming in from European capitals. French President Emmanuel Macron even posted a statement in Georgian on his Facebook page. "The Georgian people's loyalty to democratic values, and freedom of press and assembly has been heard," the post reads. "Having turned its face toward Europe, Georgia can count on support from France."