Georgia’s EU visa-free regime faces no threat, says parliamentary committee head

Levan Makhashvili, Chair of Georgia’s Parliamentary Committee on European Integration, has asserted that the country’s visa-free regime with the European Union is not under threat.

Speaking amid ongoing discussions about legislative reforms, Makhashvili emphasized the government’s firm commitment to maintaining the visa-free status, which facilitates travel for Georgian citizens within the EU, Caliber.Az reports.

“Within a few days, we will provide legislative acts and government decrees that clearly express the Georgian government's commitment to the proper functioning of the visa-free regime. This includes the areas of illegal migration, asylum policy, and so on,” he stated, signaling forthcoming regulatory measures designed to satisfy EU requirements.

Makhashvili dismissed concerns linking the visa-free regime to the repeal of certain Georgian laws as politically motivated blackmail, particularly in the lead-up to municipal elections. He criticized what he described as external pressure from Brussels to advance agendas he characterized as intrusive, including the promotion of LGBT rights and alleged political interference through money laundering.

“If the Brussels bureaucracy wants to promote LGBT propaganda, interfere in internal affairs and launder dirty money for political purposes at the expense of the visa-free regime, then, of course, the reaction of the Georgian population to this will be quite clear: blackmail and manipulation will not work,” Makhashvili concluded.

By Vafa Guliyeva