Georgian Parliament Speaker on possible suspension of visa-free travel: with today’s Brussels, nothing off the table

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday commented on the possible suspension of visa-free travel with the EU, stressing that nothing was impossible in today’s Brussels.

In his interview with Imedi TV, Papuashvili noted that when values were abandoned and it became a vehicle for advancing a political agenda toward nations, anything could be expected.

“Nothing is impossible in the hands of today’s Brussels. When you abandon values and become a carrier of a political agenda toward nations, anything can be expected there. Soviet Moscow was dangerous for this very reason - it had political interests that it would enforce, didn’t it?! So, it is difficult to predict what today’s Union government will do. It is easy to predict democracy, but when Brussels forgets the rule of law, everything becomes unpredictable”, Papuashvili said.

“It has already committed one violation in this regard when it canceled visa-free travel for diplomatic passport holders. By doing so, they violated an international agreement signed between the EU and Georgia in 2010. Even today, if you ask the EU Ambassador which article of that agreement allowed them to cancel visa-free travel, they won’t be able to answer, because it doesn’t exist. This is arbitrariness. Once you violate international law, everything becomes easier afterward”, he concluded.