“There is an attempt to use the issue of visa-free travel as a tool for political pressure on Georgia, with the ultimate goal of changing the government,” said Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of the Parliament.

According to Papuashvili, some may dislike certain laws, but linking them to visa-free travel is outright arbitrariness.

He stated that the European Union has visa-free travel agreements with 61 countries, and “in which of these countries are rights better protected than in Georgia?”

“Let me remind you, the most recent was the European Parliament resolution, attended by the Commissioner for Enlargement, Ms. Kósa. This resolution, or conclusion, was drafted by Rasa Juknevičienė and adopted amid the Commissioner’s praise and compliments. The resolution states that they do not recognize the choice of the Georgian people. This is the context we are in today, and now look at the latest so-called letter. Since no decisions are made at these meetings, they decided to write a letter because there was no decision.

To explain the procedure: after Georgian citizens gained the opportunity for visa-free travel, the EU annually publishes a report on whether the conditions for visa-free travel are being met for each of these countries. Typically, these conditions relate to migration issues, ensuring that irregular migration to the EU through our country does not pose a threat, as well as other issues related to state structures and so on. Georgia has been complying with these requirements year after year, and this process is ongoing as usual. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are in regular communication with European structures to update information on what is happening in Georgia in this regard. If we look at what is happening in Georgia, just recently we adopted new migration-related legislation, and our population can see the results: the deportation of illegal migrants from Georgia has been simplified. This was both an expectation and a requirement of the EU, and we are fulfilling it. There are other areas, such as anti-corruption measures, where we are, so to speak, doing our homework for visa-free travel as usual, and this process has been proceeding accordingly. But suddenly, some political demands emerged. More precisely, it became clear that there is an attempt to use the issue of visa-free travel as a tool for political pressure on Georgia, with the ultimate goal of changing the government. We saw this completely out of context. Suddenly, it turned out that someone doesn’t like family values, the Georgian understanding of family values. Someone doesn’t like transparency. Someone might dislike many other things, but linking this to visa-free travel is outright arbitrariness, as it has no connection to visa-free travel. The EU has visa-free travel with 61 countries. Look at the list of these countries, and citizens can judge for themselves which country has better-protected rights than Georgia,” Shalva Papuashvili said on air during the program “Current Topic with Maka Tsintsadze” on the First Channel.

Papuashvili also commented on the statement by the EU Ambassador, noting that the Ambassador’s claim that August 31 is the deadline, implying that visa-free travel could be suspended starting September 1, is absolute disinformation.

“If we look at the chronology, there was a letter, then the EU Ambassador came forward. By the way, the letter does not mention any specific date; it was stated verbally. The Ambassador came out and said that August 31 is the deadline, meaning that visa-free travel could be suspended starting September 1. What the EU Ambassador spread is absolute disinformation. There’s no such thing as a deadline at 31, 00:00, where the carriage turns into a pumpkin—such things don’t happen in structured decision-making processes. That’s one thing. Secondly, they introduced this issue, essentially feeding the opposition. The opposition is left without any ideas, and now they’ve been given something to latch onto, to parasitize on this topic, hoping to somehow stir up the public,” Shalva Papuashvili stated on the First Channel.