EU Ambassador to Georgia Paweł Herczynski said that by the end of December, the European Commission (EC) would issue the latest enlargement report for Georgia.

According to the Ambassador, the report will be a substantive document by the European Commission describing in a very detailed way what has happened in Georgia over the last year and how this is related to Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union.

“When it comes to assessment, how Georgia is doing, how Georgia is implementing the recommendations of the European Union that Georgia has received when it was granted the Candidate status, in two weeks, on the 4th of November, the latest enlargement report for Georgia will be released.

It’ll be a very long, very substantive document by the European Commission describing in a very detailed way what has happened in Georgia over the last year and how this is related to Georgia’s aspirations to join the European Union. Very important date, 4th of November, there will be a press conference organized in Brussels, a press conference by, High Representative/ Vice President of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas and the Commissioner responsible for enlargement, Marta Kos. I wholeheartedly invite all journalists from Georgia to join this conference online and ask very specific questions when it comes to the rankings of Georgia and what progress Georgia has made or has not made.

On the same day, on the 4th of November, I will also organize a press conference in Tbilisi in order to answer all the detailed questions about how well or how badly Georgia is doing. The annual enlargement report for Georgia for the third time will be published on the 4th of November,” he said.

The Ambassador was asked about the suspension of visa-free travel, specifically, what is the basis for this request, to which Paweł Herczynski replied:

“There are two processes. One process is Georgia-specific. For many months, we have been saying very openly, and this has been stated very clearly by all my bosses in Brussels, that we see Georgia backsliding on democratic principles, and as a result of all the actions taken by Georgian authorities. All the options are on the table, including the suspension, full or partial. Ministers of the EU 27 countries have been discussing this issue for several months now, and they will continue the discussions. In parallel, there is work ongoing on the overall regulation concerning visa free travel for all countries in the world that enjoy visa-free travel to Europe. These discussions should be over by the end of November.

By the end of December, the European Commission will issue its annual report describing how Georgia was complying with the benchmarks of visa-free travel. And then afterwards, member states will have to decide how to react. It’s not an easy decision. Member states will have to decide what to do, if to suspend partially, if to suspend fully, whatever decisions will be made, I cannot speculate. It’ll be in the hands of member states and this decision will be taken by a qualified majority. What does it mean? It means the majority of member states, representing the majority of the European Union population,” he said.