“Yesterday we heard that technical matters were being discussed at the level of technical working groups. However, we see that they keep injecting political issues into the visa-free travel discourse, which in itself exposes Brussels’ lack of good faith,” the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, told journalists in Abastumani.

According to Papuashvili, the European Union’s attitude towards Georgia serves as a microcosm of the sheer incompetence that characterises Brussels’ current foreign policy.

“I must remind everyone that Brussels breached international law when it imposed visa requirements on holders of diplomatic passports. This action violated the 2010 international agreement between the European Union and Georgia. In this regard, it is the EU itself that has violated international law, even as it lectures others on upholding it.

Then, in an attempt to somehow cover up this violation, they adopted bespoke regulations tailored specifically for Georgia. They have abandoned all common sense and standard visa logic. Regulations have been devised specifically for Georgia and applied solely to our country, where they can demand anything they like. Under the guise of so-called ‘democratic development’, they can make up anything, tell us which laws to pass or not pass, and command us whether to jump on our left foot or our right. This once again highlights the deplorable state to which Brussels has dragged the European Union. Brussels has turned the EU into a violator of international law.

Above all, we can see that the Brussels bureaucracy acts with such a lack of professionalism that this very incompetence gives us hope that, ultimately, they will not take steps that end up harming themselves. Everything they have done so far has only damaged their own interests, damaged the EU, and damaged trust in the institution.

So, if they wish to shoot themselves in the foot yet again, they are free to do so. But let me repeat: the EU’s approach to Georgia is a mini-model of the incompetence that defines Brussels’ foreign policy today,” Shalva Papuashvili stated.

For context, a meeting took place in Brussels between delegations from Georgia and the European Commission as part of the visa dialogue. The discussion focused on the European Commission’s implementing regulation dated March 6, 2026, concerning the temporary suspension of visa exemptions for holders of Georgian diplomatic, service, and official passports.

According to the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the decision to temporarily suspend the visa-free regime for holders of Georgian diplomatic and service passports was based on insufficient justification and is fundamentally unjust.