EU May Suspend Visa-Free Regime with Georgia

The European Union is set to discuss the potential suspension of the visa-free travel agreement for Georgian citizens to Schengen Area countries in the near future. This was stated by the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Pavel Gerchinsky, in an interview with the Movement portal.

The diplomat did not conceal that the reason for this move is the adoption by the Georgian parliament of a law on "transparency of external influence," which mandates the registration of NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad in a special registry maintained by the Ministry of Justice.

Gerchinsky emphasized that a simple majority of EU member states' votes will suffice to make a decision at the European Council meeting scheduled for June. “I am confident that this will be considered as one of the options, and participating countries will make a decision,” the ambassador stated.

“We agreed with Georgia on the liberalization of the visa regime, but under specific conditions. Now we need to verify if those conditions are still in place,” noted the EU representative.

At the same time, he pointed out that such a decision would negatively impact ordinary citizens of Georgia, which is not the EU's intention. Formally, the suspension of the visa-free regime may stem from Tbilisi's failure to meet commitments undertaken before the EU, including adherence to human rights and democratic norms.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili responded to Ambassador Gerchinsky today, June 5. The Prime Minister stated that no one in the world can "punish the Georgian people."

Since spring 2017, Georgian citizens have enjoyed the right to travel to Schengen Agreement countries without a visa. Since then, approximately 300,000 Georgians have traveled to the EU in search of work, despite the visa-free agreement not granting the right to work.

Leading EU countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, have repeatedly called for the suspension of the visa-free regime with Georgia due to the disproportionate number of asylum seekers from Georgia in the EU. However, before the Georgian authorities initiated the foreign agents law, the European Commission and the European Council consistently refused to discuss the issue of suspending the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens.