The European Commission proposes to stop visa privileges for Georgian officials

The European Commission proposed on Friday to suspend visa privileges for Georgian officials due to the country’s violent crackdown on pro-European protests.

“Today we are taking steps to hold Georgian authorities accountable for the repression of peaceful demonstrations,” said Kaya Kallas, a senior EU diplomat.

The demonstrations, which received a harsh response from the police, began after the controversial parliamentary elections, in which the opposition and the president did not accept the victory of “Georgian Dream”. Then the demonstrations got even hotter when the Prime Minister of Georgia announced that they are suspending the negotiations to join the European Union until 2028.

Under the proposed project, Georgian diplomats and officials will have to obtain a visa to travel to the European Union, while ordinary citizens will still be able to travel to the EU for a short visit without a visa.

Earlier plans to impose EU sanctions on those responsible for the violence in Georgia were recently blocked by Hungary and Slovakia.Kaia Kallas also proposed imposing sanctions on Georgian officials and diplomats in order to restore the visa requirement for them, but Slovakia and Hungary vetoed them.

The proposal to establish a visa regime only for holders of diplomatic passports was accepted by a qualified majority. Now this proposal of the European Commission, which also includes Georgian officials, can be approved without a full consensus, only by a qualified majority, thus denying Hungary and Slovakia the opportunity to overturn the decision.