Ambassador Herczyński: Imposition of sanctions at EU 27 level requires unanimity

“We have been trying to have sanctions agreed at the level of EU 27, but again, this requires unanimity,” said Paweł Herczyński, EU Ambassador to Georgia.

According to the Ambassador, several EU members decided to implement bilateral sanctions and their number is increasing.

“Representatives of EU institutions have been repeating this over and over again. We cannot accept violence in any form, in any shape. What we have seen, what we have been seeing on the streets of Tbilisi and other Georgian cities is unacceptable. Now we have a situation with many people unjustly detained. And this is why, we have been trying to impose sanctions on Georgian officials responsible for the use of violence as I have briefed you many times.

Unfortunately, until now, it has not been possible in the case of EU sanctions, as in order for us to adopt sanctions, we need unanimity. And for the moment we have some member states who are not in a position to join unanimity. This is why several EU member states have decided to implement bilateral sanctions, and this number is growing, and I think Poland was the last one a few weeks ago. We have been trying to have sanctions agreed at the level of EU 27, but again, this requires unanimity,” he said.

The Ambassador clarified that the EU suspended visa-free travel for Georgian holders of diplomatic and service passports.

“I need to clarify that as a result of democratic backsliding, as a result of repressive laws, as a result of intimidation, violence, all of us, by qualified majority vote, decided to suspend visa-free for Georgian holders of diplomatic and service passports. And now, member states, who are responsible for their borders are implementing this joint EU 27 decision.

Why we are doing this? Because we cannot accept what the authorities of Georgia have been doing for the last year, not bringing Georgia closer to the EU, but distancing Georgia from EU membership. We did not want to target the population, the people. This is why ordinary Georgians, holders of ordinary Georgian passports can travel visa-free to the European Union, but those who represent the state, those who have diplomatic passports will have to apply for a visa,” he said.