EU suspends visa-free regime for Georgian diplomatic passports

EU suspends visa free regime for Georgian diplomatic passports

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The Council of the EU decided on Monday to suspend the visa-free regime for diplomatic passports issued in Georgia.

‘This may lead to Georgian diplomats and officials having to apply for [a] visa when travelling to the EU’, the council’s press release said.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the Polish Minister of the Interior and Administration, stated that ‘fundamental rights and democratic values are core principles of EU integration. Officials that represent a country which trample down these values should not benefit from easier access to the EU’.

According to the Council of the EU, the decision was a reaction to the controversial foreign agent law and the so-called ‘Law on the Protection of Family Values and Minors’, commonly known as the LGBT ‘propaganda’ law, which were adopted by the Georgian government last year.

‘The EU considers that these legislations undermine the fundamental rights of the Georgian people, including the freedom of association and expression, the right to privacy, the right to participate in public affairs, and increases stigmatisation and discrimination’, the press release read.

The press statement also noted that the ‘proposal is also a response to violent repression by the Georgian authorities against peaceful protesters, politicians, and independent media’.

For more than 60 days in different cities across Georgia, thousands of people have been protesting against the government’s recent EU U-turn.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Paweł Herczyński, the EU’s ambassador to Georgia,  stated that Georgia’s democratic regression could not remain without a reaction from the EU.  According to Herczyński, the EU’s goal was not to punish the Georgian people, but those responsible for the repression, intimidation, and the ongoing violence.

The Council of the EU said the visa facilitation agreement will be suspended for members of Georgia’s official delegations who participate in official meetings and other events held in the territory of an EU country by intergovernmental organisations. It will also affect members of Georgia’s national and regional governments and parliaments, Georgia’s Constitutional Court and Supreme Court, and any holders of diplomatic passports.

There can be additional measures as well.

The Council of the EU said ‘once the partial suspension enters into force [...] member states can decide to adopt national measures to apply the visa requirement for holders of diplomatic, service/official passports and special passports’.

On Tuesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the country would not suspend visa-free travel for Georgian diplomats.

‘Hungary will not suspend its existing agreement with Georgia on visa-free travel for service and diplomatic passports there, because the Hungarian government believes that Georgia’s future should be decided there, and the Georgians have clearly decided, whether Brussels likes it or not’, he stated.

Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has been one of the strongest supporters of Georgian Dream in the EU. Orbán was the first international leader to recognise Georgian Dream’s disputed electoral victory in October, issuing a congratulatory message just minutes after the polls closed — and long before the results were officially confirmed.

Orbán and other Hungarian officials have also backed Georgian Dream’s rhetoric and conspiracy theories, as well as consistently blocking EU measures in response to Georgia’s democratic backsliding.

Following the Council’s decision, Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili downplayed the decision, claiming that it was just a ‘technical’ move.

‘If the European Union tells diplomats and holders of diplomatic passports that they allegedly pose a threat to public order within EU member states, this claim would be entirely baseless and contrary to the goal of demonstrating the EU’s commitment to fostering closer ties with Georgia’, Bochorishvili said in response to a reporter’s question.

‘We will closely monitor how each EU member state implements the Council’s decision. Of utmost importance for us is the broader picture of relations with the European Union’, she added.

In turn, Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said in a post on Facebook that Brussels’ accusations of trampling democracy are false and hypocritical.

‘However, after demanding the release of [Georgia’s imprisoned former president Mikheil] Saakashvili, the creator of an authoritarian regime, from prison, this is not surprising’.

On 17 December 2024, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that the EU foreign ministers’ agreement to suspend the visa-free regime for holders of diplomatic passports was ‘an unequivocally anti-Georgian step’.

‘Despite the fact that this recommendation also has an essentially symbolic meaning, it should be assessed as an unequivocally anti-Georgian step, which, of course, undermines the credibility of European structures in the perception of Georgian society’, he said.

Georgian Dream launches fresh attacks on the EU and the West, armed with conspiracy theories

Georgian Dream targeted critics with a statement blending the so-called Global War Party, the Deep State, migration, George Soros, and LGBT propaganda.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia