EU Ambassadors support visa-free travel for Georgians

European Union (EU) ambassadors have given the green light to the lifting of visa-requirements for Georgians and for the suspension mechanism to be implemented today at a meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper).

The visa waiver for Georgia will enter into force simultaneously with the visa-suspension mechanism, which will allow the EU to reinstate visa requirements quickly should the need arise.

The draft regulation has now to be formally approved by the the Council of Ministers on February 28. The text will then be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU before and enter into force twenty days after its publication.

EU ambs have given green lights to visa free suspension mechanism & visa lib for #Georgia. Eu ministers will endorse this on 27 Feb.#Ukraine

— Rikard Jozwiak (@RikardJozwiak) 22 February 2017

Georgia’s State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Viktor Dolidze believes the process is running smoothly and on schedule.

On February 2 of this year the European Parliament (EP) voted in favour of visa-free travel for Georgian citizens with 553 votes in favour, 66 against and 28 abstaining.

The EU-Georgia visa liberalisation dialogue started back in 2012. It is expected that Georgians will be able to travel visa-free to the countries of the EU’s Schengen Zone and to several others by the end of March 2017 for 90 days in any 180-day period.