“Today in Luxembourg, the Georgian issue was on the agenda. The assembled foreign ministers discussed the matter, and once again we heard how the visa regime issue is being linked to Georgia. Once again, we saw attempts to use language that amounts to blackmail towards Georgia and to instrumentalise visa-free travel as a political tool,” stated Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maka Botchorishvili, on Rustavi 2 TV.

As Maka Botchorishvili noted, it is widely recognised that the suggestion to revoke visa-free travel and use it as a form of blackmail is baseless, and that any move in this direction regarding Georgia is impossible.

Surely this won’t be solely and exclusively about Georgia, will it? They appear to be using this as some sort of policy instrument, and as a result, there is now a search for ways to circumvent measures that lack unequivocal support within the European Union. In this context, I am referring to the possibility of revoking the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens. We can state quite clearly that there is insufficient backing for such an idea to be implemented. Naturally, even the most vocal critics of the current developments in Georgia, and of the Georgian issue, such as foreign ministers from countries that have taken an opposing stance towards Georgia, have spoken several months ago about how, in terms of policy for citizens, such measures are not viable.

The message was clear: there is no willingness within the EU to transform visa-free travel into a tool of policy-making on a whim. However, we observe that efforts continue to find certain ways to utilise this issue as a form of pressure. Conversely, they have effectively exploited this by suspending the agreement signed back in 2010. A visa regime has effectively been introduced for holders of diplomatic passports, belonging to a specific category of individuals,” stated Maka Botchorishvili.