Georgian Parliament Speaker: Georgia meets all visa liberalisation requirements, but political conditions have been invented

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Monday said that visa liberalisation had always been based on specific criteria that Georgia had fulfilled and continued to fulfil, adding that new political conditions have recently been introduced, including “demands for Georgia to allow undisclosed EU funding”.

Papuashvili was asked about a dialogue in Brussels between the ruling party and the European Commission regarding the possible suspension of visa-free travel, including who would represent the Georgian side and whether the government was prepared to take responsibility if the visa-free travel were suspended.

“Georgian Dream will not be represented there as a party. The delegation was formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and includes representatives of various state agencies. This is a technical meeting, not a political discussion”, the Speaker said.

He stressed that visa liberalisation has clear requirements that Georgia has consistently met.

“Visa liberalisation had and continues to have specific conditions, which Georgia has always fulfilled and continues to fulfil. Unfortunately, in recent times we have seen political conditions being invented, such as dictating which laws Georgia should adopt and which it should not. No one can explain how this is connected to visa liberalisation. For example, Georgia is being told that it must allow undisclosed European Union funding in the country”, Papuashvili noted.

The Speaker argued that Georgia was being asked to compromise its sovereignty in exchange for maintaining visa-free travel with the European Union.

“We are being asked to limit our sovereignty for the sake of what is called visa liberalisation and to allow the covert financing of radical political groups. Sovereignty is not exchanged for strawberries. When you are told that you should not insist on asking Brussels to disclose its funding in order to retain visa liberalisation, that amounts to surrendering sovereignty in exchange for a strawberry”, Papuashvili concluded.