Today, we agreed on the need to suspend the visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic passports. This was stated by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, at a press conference held in Brussels after the meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, APA reports citing Interpress News.
According to her, the situation is not developing in a positive direction for the Georgian people, in response to which the European Union has already reduced political contacts and the European Commission will submit a proposal to suspend the visa-free regime for holders of Georgian diplomatic passports this year.
“The situation is not developing in a positive direction for the Georgian people, democratic countries do not suppress opposition voices and do not restrict media freedom. In response, we have reduced political contacts and suspended funding for the government of Georgia. Today, we agreed on the need to suspend the visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic passports, and the Commission will submit a proposal this year. We also discussed the issue of imposing sanctions against those Georgian officials who are behind the violence against peaceful demonstrators,” said Kaja Kallas.
She also said that the EU will continue to stand by the Georgian people.
“In the future, we will continue to support the Georgian people, including by redirecting funding intended for the government to civil society and the Georgian people, to independent media, because the future of Georgia is up to the Georgian people,” the EU High Representative noted.
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On December 16, EU Foreign Ministers discussed the political situation in Georgia at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting, APA reports citing Civil Georgia.
According to Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL’s Europe editor, the Council failed to reach the necessary unanimity to sanction Georgian Dream officials, but it did ask the European Commission to prepare an official document on suspending visa liberalization for Georgians holding diplomatic passports, which requires only a qualified majority.
Jozwiak reports that the sanctions issue was “as expected” vetoed by Hungary and Slovakia. “European Commission will however propose visa liberalization suspension for Georgian diplomats, possibly as early as this week. There is a qualified majority for this,” he stated.
Paweł Herczyński, the EU ambassador to Georgia, mentioned the possibility of the EU suspending visa-free travel for certain categories of passports on December 9. According to him, the decision was based on the expectation that some countries would block sanctions against Georgia. Some member states are also wary of punishing the pro-European population for the actions of the ruling party by suspending visa liberalization altogether.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó voiced his country’s promise to block any sanctions against Georgian Dream officials during Georgian Dream Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili’s first official visit to Budapest.
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