Flags and balloons in Tbilisi International Airport on March 28 (Monica Ellena)
Citizens of Georgia with biometric passports will be able to travel to countries in Europe’s Schengen Area without visas as of 28 March.
Georgian nationals will be able to travel to the 26 Schengen countries, as well four countries applying for Schengen membership for 90 days within any 180-day period for any purpose other than work, without obtaining a visa in advance.
Negotiations on visa liberalisation for Georgia started back in 2008 as part of the Eastern Partnership Programme. Since then, visa liberalisation has been eagerly anticipated in post-soviet Georgia, which has been seeking closer ties with the EU against a background of creeping Russian influence.
The Schengen Area is composed of 22 of the 28 EU member States, with Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, and Romania in the process of joining. Non-EU Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are also members. EU members the UK and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Area, and the agreement will not affect Georgians travelling to these countries.
European leaders congratulated Georgia, and Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili called 28 March a ‘historic day’ and said that Georgia is ‘returning to the European Family’.
Georgian’s celebratedthe news online, granting 18th century Georgian pro-Europe thinker his very own Schengen visa.
(Facebook)
A visa-suspension mechanism, which also came into force with the visa-free regime, can be activated if Georgia breaks rules of the agreement.
According to this, the visa free regime can be suspended if a significant number stay for longer than the permitted 90 days, make multiple asylum requests, or pose an increased risk to internal security.
If such problems persist, the suspension can be extended up to 18 months, at which point the European Parliament will become involved and continue a more complex procedure.
After a tense night of confrontation between protesters and riot police in the central streets of Tbilisi, Georgian Dream’s communications department, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, and other lawmakers from the parliamentary majority have claimed that Georgia hasn’t halted the country’s EU membership bid until the end of 2028.
On Friday, a Georgian Facebook account named Sinamdvileshi (‘in fact’), which local media have said is Georgian Dream’s communications department, blamed EU Ambass
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has announced the country is halting its EU membership bid ‘until the end of 2028’.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Kobakhidze said the issue of opening accession negotiations with the EU would not be ‘on the agenda’ during the current parliament.’
He added that the government would also be refusing any budgetary support from the EU. The EU previously announced they were halting funding to the Georgian Government over the foreign agent law and other
Armenia has accused Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the EU of threatening and insulting his Armenian counterpart at a reception organised by the Turkish Embassy in Brussels.
On Tuesday, Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan told journalists that Azerbaijan’s EU Ambassador, Vagif Sadigov, threatened Armenia’s Ambassador, Tigran Balayan, during a reception organised by the Turkish Embassy in Brussels.
Hovhannisyan said that Armenia informed Belgium and the EU of the incident, and
The EU issued its annual report on Wednesday detailing the changes over the last year for the ten countries aspiring to join the bloc, including Georgia. A year after Georgia was granted candidate status, EU ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczynski said ‘there are unfortunately not many reasons to celebrate. Due to the course of action taken by the Georgian government, EU leaders stopped Georgia’s accession process’.
While European politicians and EU officials have said to varying degrees of
Citizens of Georgia with biometric passports will be able to travel to countries in Europe’s Schengen Area without visas as of 28 March. 
