EU refrains from making decision on Georgia’s visa liberalization
By Mariam Chanishvili
Friday, June 3
The Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) failed to agree on Georgia’s visa liberalization again on June 2.
The head of parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, Tedo Japaridze, considers that this is part of the democratic process, where it is up to the majority. He is very optimistic about the issue and thinks that the decision will be made in favor of Georgia.
“This is a democratic process, where only one person cannot make a decision; let’s wait, I am sure the result will be positive,” he commented.
Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gigi Gigiadze cannot tell the exact reason why the decision-making process was held off, but he declared that Georgia’s visa liberalization issue will be again discussed on June 9-10 on the meeting of the EU Justice and Interior minister (JHA).
“We are waiting for the process to be concluded successfully in the nearest future”, says Gigiadze.
He says that Georgia is rated as one of the best executors of the tasks given by the EU and a leader in carrying out reforms.
Moreover, he added that during the Eastern Partnership Summit – which is attended by every member country of the EU - Georgia was acknowledged as one of the most progressive and successful reformative countries in connection with the visa liberalization process.
The Reuters agency also published an article about the issue, which says that Germany and France were among the opposing countries for Georgia to obtain visa liberalization.
According to the article, the EU considers Georgia’s visa-liberalization would be risky for migration and the security of the states, and it cannot open the borders all at once for the population of the four states (Georgia, Kosovo, Ukraine and Turkey).
