According to the Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, Lithuania’s decision to revoke the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens holding diplomatic and service passports constitutes a gross and legally unfounded violation of the 2010 international agreement titled “Agreement between the European Union and Georgia on the Facilitation of the Issuance of Visas.”
Papuashvili wrote on social media that the European Union and its member states must respect international legal obligations and the rules-based international order.
“We should also remember that under this 2010 agreement, visa-free travel was granted only to the elite of Saakashvili’s dictatorial regime, while ordinary citizens were left without visa-free access for another seven years. It was only in 2017, thanks to the efforts of the Georgian Dream government, that visa-free travel was opened up for ordinary citizens as well,” Papuashvili stated.
Lithuania has revoked the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens holding diplomatic and service passports.
As reported by Delfi, the Lithuanian government adopted the relevant decision on May 21.
The Lithuanian government instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to notify the European Commission and other EU member states of the decision within five working days.
For context: Estonia also revoked the visa-free regime for holders of Georgian diplomatic passports on May 8.
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