Mdinaradze calls EU visa-free travel ‘the last bullet in the blackmail arsenal’

Mamuka Mdinaradze, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, has stated that he does not expect the EU to suspend Georgia’s visa-free travel, calling the issue ‘the last bullet in the blackmail arsenal’. In recent days, Georgian Dream members have downplayed the significance of EU visa-free travel and accused Brussels of blackmail.

During his appearance on the pro-government media outlet TV Imedi on Thursday,  Mdinaradze was asked about a suspension of the visa-free regime as a ‘theoretical assumption’.

‘If the EU made a political decision and used a political leverage tool, how would this be perceived by people? Will they understand it as punishment, or on the contrary, could this provoke a sharp reaction?’ the host asked.

In response, Mdinaradze stated that this step ‘will be perceived correctly, in my opinion, because up until now, everything has been perceived correctly by the Georgian public, and here too, it will be understood correctly’.

However, he added that he expects this kind of decision from the EU to be less likely, as it remains the only ‘blackmail’ material Georgian Dream claims Brussels has.

‘If someone approaches the EU countries in such a way that they actually reach this decision, it means that there is no more leverage to blackmail’, Mdinaradze said.

‘After this, what should they do, what should they threaten us with? Now they're threatening us with this, what more can they threaten us with? Should they drop an atomic bomb on us in the end, or what?’, he added.

Recently, high-ranking Georgian Dream officials have made a series of statements downplaying the significance of visa-free travel with the EU, a move critics say is to prepare the public for its potential suspension by the EU.

The statements first emerged after an interview by Georgian news site BM.ge with German Ambassador Peter Fischer, in which he spoke about the deterioration of relations between Georgia and the EU.

Fischer insisted that ‘no one wants to punish the Georgian people’, but emphasised that visa-free travel was a ‘great privilege’.

‘Visa-free regime is for very like-minded countries that are free democracies, where human rights are respected, or we don’t have a migration problem. So we have to look, is that condition still true or not. That’s the process we’re in’, he added.

Following this, the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, claimed that visa-free travel ‘is a tool for political pressure and blackmail’, while ruling party MP Nino Tsilosani added that ‘if comfort [brought by visa-free travel] conflicts with patriotism, the Georgian people have always and will always remain patriots of their country’.

These statements by ruling party representatives were criticised by members of the opposition and civil society figures.

The discussion in Georgia around visa-free travel, which was granted to the country in 2017, comes amid work in the EU on a draft regulation changing the grounds that are needed to suspend visa-free travel for third countries.

Georgia’s relations with the EU and its member states have sharply deteriorated following the ruling party’s adoption of several pieces of repressive legislation, as well as the widespread violations that were documented during October 2024’s parliamentary elections. Relations plummeted further still after the Georgian government announced it was freezing its EU membership bid, violently dispersing protesters against the decision.

Prior to the elections, the EU suspended over €120 million ($140 million) in aid to Georgia.

At the end of January, the EU also suspended the visa-free regime for Georgian diplomatic passports, while member states have imposed individual sanctions on a number of Georgian officials and halted several cooperation projects.

Georgian Dream moves to downplay importance of EU visa-free travel

The comments come as the EU’s moves to update the mechanism for suspending visa-free travel to third countries.

OC MediaMikheil Gvadzabia