I quote: “The law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence” should be repealed, as well as the legislative package “Protection of Family Values and Minors”. Also, “the National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan should be amended in such a way that the rights of LGBT persons are fully protected” - this is what, among other things, the European Union is proposing - the detainees are not mentioned, - said Levan Makhashvili, the Chairman of the Parliament’s European Integration Committee.
According to him, the Georgian Dream has been working with the European Commission for years to ensure that visa-free travel does not pose any problems or question marks.
"The letter that Kaja Kallas referred to is the European Commission's seventh report on the implementation of visa-free travel, which was published in December last year. Practically, 95% of this report is identical. We will communicate with Europeans, this letter can be public to some extent, but 95% of the recommendations are the same. I will allow myself to state several issues publicly, because the recommendations of this document are public. Kaja Kallas referred selectively, to only one, but I will say a few, and the public will judge how fair the approaches and recommendations that the European Union has given are. For example, both in the seventh report and in this letter, several laws are called for to be repealed. I quote: "The law "On Transparency of Foreign Influence" should be repealed, as well as the legislative package "On the Protection of Family Values and Minors." Also, “the National Human Rights Strategy and Action Plan should be amended so that the rights of LGBT people are fully protected.” This is what, among other things, the European Union is proposing. The public needs to know what is at stake so that this issue is regulated. We will continue to work with the European Commission as we have done in the previous six reports. This is a working process. We are ready to work on both external control and asylum and anti-corruption issues, which were discussed in previous reports. [It does not mentionthe detainees],” said Levan Makhashvili.
When asked what his opinion was on whether visa-free travel would be suspended, Makhashvili replied that Georgia is not in danger of visa-free travel being suspended.
“I am convinced that the country is not in danger of visa-free travel being suspended. These are not empty words. Our belief is based on the recommendations and the working process that we have always had with the European Commission. We will continue to do so. We will study the letter and discuss what can be done. Among other things, what the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice and other agencies can do so that many EU states do not have the feeling that the visa-free regime system is being abused to endanger EU citizens.
This letter is a draft document and we will see where the resources are to repeal or not repeal any law. The EU requests to repeal laws - but the date is not specified in the letter – orally they say on August 31. I will remind you that the parliament begins its official work on September 2. Therefore, these laws cannot be repealed physically, even if there is a will to do so. We will weigh what can and cannot be done. It will not be a surprise if we say that there are several red lines, including those on family values, as well as on issues that are based on the conservative idea and approaches that the government has and on the basis of which we won the election," said Levan Makhashvili.
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