Georgia’s visa waiver: What procedures are left?

Georgia's visa waiver will be discussed in Brussels this evening at a special meeting involving the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission.

This will be the first tripartite meeting on Georgia’s visa liberalisation involving all of these European Union (EU) structures.

The meeting will start at about 6.30pm Tbilisi time.

Miroslav Lajcak, Slovakia's Foreign Minister and current EU Council presidency holder, said he believed only one tripartite meeting would be enough because "there are no obstacles and everything is agreed”.

Asked whether or not the European Parliament would vote on Georgia’s visa waiver this week, Lajcak said: "It’s difficult to say. There are procedures. But at this stage I can’t see any obstacles. Georgian people will get the visa-free regime soon”.

It is expected that on December 20, Georgia’s visa waiver will be discussed by the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the EU (Coreper).

Currently Georgia is in its final phase of its visa liberalisation process. Once the process is completed, Georgian citizens will be able to travel to the Schengen area without a visa.