Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili has stated that Georgia has “fully met” its legal obligations regarding visa-free travel with the European Union, and any statement in this regard should be seen as “political blackmail.”

His remarks came during an interview on Georgian Public Broadcaster’s program “Actual Topic with Maka Tsintsadze”, in response to a question about “what steps EU bureaucrats might take if their demands are not met.”

“First of all, the very fact that this is a blackmail already demonstrates a dishonest approach to the issue. Among the so-called ‘eight points’ mentioned in the EU’s letter, six are technical and routine issues that the government is already addressing. The remaining two, ‘transparency law’ and the ‘law on family values’, have no legal or logical connection to visa liberalization. However, we observe a certain level of arbitrariness, similar to what we saw with diplomatic passports. The recommendation to suspend visa-free travel for diplomatic passports was already a breach of the 2010 international agreement between Georgia and the EU. That’s not speculation – it’s a fact. This letter only reaffirms that the European Commission has acted outside the bounds of international law.

When there is arbitrariness and, among other things, disrespect for the rule of law, there are many things to be expected. First, there is no basis, and I want our society to know clearly that, as far as visa-free travel is concerned, we are legally clear in our obligations. So, any such statement that we hear is blackmail; secondly, we see, among others, that, fortunately, there is common sense within the European Union. According to behind-the-scenes evidence, which was released, among others, by the media, reveals that there are states that recognise that implementing such madness, which is running through certain people’s thoughts, is just unacceptable and impossible; The third issue is that they love to say, ‘We granted the EU candidate status to the Georgian people.’ So, what’s happened now to the Georgian people? What is going on? Do they no longer care about the Georgian people?” declared Shalva Papuashvili.