Ruling party Sec Gen: no legitimate grounds to suspend visa liberalisation for Georgia

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday dismissed threats to suspend Georgia’s visa liberalisation with the European Union as baseless and politically motivated.

In his remarks, Kaladze asserted that there was no legal justification for such a move, accusing external actors of using the issue as a weapon to pressure the Georgian people.

“If we look at this from a legal perspective and follow what is outlined in the Association Agreement, of course, there is no basis whatsoever for suspending visa liberalisation for Georgia. However, they have brought political speculations into the agenda. For so long, we have only heard false statements based on lies. We have not heard any arguments, for example, about why transparency could contradict Georgia’s European future and values. To this day, there is no response - just their statements saturated with ordinary political speculations. As the saying goes, might makes right. That’s their attitude. They want to oppress the Georgian people”, the ruling party official said.

Kaladze criticised the approach as an attempt to oppress Georgia, likening it to previous instances of external pressure.

“We have experienced cases of blackmail and threats regarding the candidate status. They tried to use this issue to orchestrate a coup or revolution in the country, but they failed. Then there was the issue of opening or not opening negotiations, and they were defeated there too”, he noted.

He described the threat of visa liberalisation suspension as “the last weapon” being used against the Georgian state and its people.

“The last weapon they have left, which they are using to threaten the Georgian people and the Georgian state, is the suspension of visa liberalisation. I am confident that they will be defeated here as well because the truth is on the side of the Georgian people and the Georgian state in general”, he concluded.