European Parliament Members: “Georgia meets all requirements, it merits visa-free regime with EU”
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Lawmakers in the European Parliament (EP) say Georgia has met all its European Union (EU) visa liberalisation requirements and believe the country should be granted a visa-free regime as soon as possible.
The EP lawmakers added Georgia’s bid for a visa-free regime with the EU should not be influenced by other issues facing the EU, such as foreign migration, or be regarded in the same visa debates the EU is currently having with Turkey, Ukraine or Kosovo.
The Foreign Affairs Committee of the Members of European Parliament (MEPs) has released a statement voicing their support for Georgia after meeting Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili in Strasbourg, France yesterday.
The Socials and Democrats (S&D) Group, the second largest group in the EP with 191 members from all 28 EU countries, made a clear statement that supported Georgia’s visa liberalisation to the EU.
Today S&D Group president Gianni Pittella and vice president for Foreign Policy and Eastern Partnership Knut Fleckenstein met with Margvelashvili in Strasbourg.
The S&D Group supports the process of liberalising the visa regime for Georgia; we are aware of the sensitivity of this issue in terms of encouraging the Georgian people and institutions to firmly keep to the European path,” Pittella said.
Fleckenstein added Georgia had met all the requirements therefore the EU should stick to its promise and "grant a visa-free regime now” to the people of Georgia.
"We expect the Council to act now,” Fleckenstein stressed.
Officials discuss Georgia’s visa liberalisation
Georgia’s President believes the country needs greater support from the European Union (EU) to successfully finalise its visa liberalisation process, which will allow Georgian citizens the right to travel to the Schengen Zone without a visa.
October’s Parliamentary Election will test democracy in Georgia
Georgia has implemented a number of useful reforms and European leaders do appreciate this. This was stressed by Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili as he visited Strasbourg for a working visit yesterday.
Tbilisi celebrates the release of a positive progress report on Georgia's implementation of its Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP). The European Commission today released the report that said Georgia met all the benchmarks of the VLAP.
Georgia meets all the benchmarks of its Visa Liberalisation Action Plan (VLAP), meaning in early 2016 the European Union (EU) will propose a legislative amendment to let Georgian citizens travel to the EU visa free.
This afternoon Georgia's President Giorgi Margvelashvili sat down with Council of Europe (CoE) president Donald Tusk to discuss the country's visa liberalisation.
Georgia-EU visa-free talks should end successfully before October elections
Georgia’s Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili says all conditions have been met so talks about Georgia’s visa-free travel to the Schengen zone should end successfully before the Parliamentary Elections are held on October 8, 2016.
"Georgia has fulfilled its assignment; we have completed all the technical parts of our Visa Liberalisation Action Plan. We are absolutely in line with all the requirements set by the European Commission,” underlined the PM while speaking at a panel discussion at the Energy Forum held in Tbilisi today.
Five European states have penned a joint letter urging the Council of Europe (CoE) and European Parliament (EP) to grant Georgia visa-free travel to the EU before the end of this month.
All 28 member states of the European Union (EU) agree Georgia has done "incredibly good work” to implement all obligations for visa-free travel and these efforts deserve to be recognised "as soon as possible”.