Instead of focusing on the criteria relevant to visa liberalization, political preconditions were invented and imposed on Georgia, and as the saying goes, sovereignty is not traded for strawberries, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili told journalists.

According to him, a meeting concerning visa liberalization scheduled for June 11 will be “technical in nature rather than political.”

Papashvili said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has assembled a delegation that will participate in the meeting.

“There is a mechanism provided for by the rules that requires such a technical-level meeting to be held. Accordingly, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has formed a group that will take part. This is a technical meeting, not a political one. We have seen the conditions that were being discussed. One of them was that Georgia should join the European Union’s sanctions against Russia. Our response is that we do not intend to destroy our country or expose it to the risk of war.

The second demand was that Georgia abandon its requirement for foreign entities to spend money transparently. The European Union wants political agendas in Georgia to continue being financed secretly, as was previously the case from Brussels. We said this is impossible out of respect for our sovereignty.

Visa liberalization has its own procedures and requirements. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the criteria relevant to visa liberalization, political preconditions were invented and imposed on Georgia, directly violating our country’s sovereignty and its right to determine its own state agenda. As the saying goes, sovereignty is not traded for strawberries,” Papuashvili stated.

For reference, Ricard Jozwiak, Europe Editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, wrote on social media that the European Union plans to hold a dialogue with Georgia on June 11 regarding visa-related matters. “An important meeting where the possible suspension of visa liberalization will be discussed,” Jozwiak wrote.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that, in accordance with EU visa regulations, the European Commission is required to initiate a dialogue with the relevant third country during the operation of the suspension mechanism, and that the first meeting between the Georgian side and the European Commission will take place on June 11.

“Under the EU Visa Regulation ((EU) 2018/1806, Article 8e(9)), during the period in which the suspension mechanism is in force, the European Commission must begin a dialogue with the relevant third country. At the invitation of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, the first meeting between the Georgian side and the European Commission will take place in Brussels on June 11. Representatives of the relevant Georgian agencies will participate in the meeting under the leadership of the Director of the International Legal Affairs, Consular Affairs and Diaspora Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the ministry stated.