Georgian PM: ‘We Expect to Get EU Visa Waiver Maybe Next Year’



Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili speaks with journalists on arrival at the Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, May 21, 2015. Photo: EU audio visual service

Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili said “political decision” to grant Georgia visa-free regime in the Schengen area is already in place and he hopes the country will get it in 2016 after “technical procedures” are completed before the end of this year.

“Everyone acknowledges that Georgia has made a significant progress. In just six months we have made a huge progress and took a great leap forward. Taking in view this progress, everyone agrees that Georgia deserves to have visa-free travel rules with the EU,” the Georgian PM told journalists on arrival at the Eastern Partnership summit in Riga on Thursday evening.

“Political decision has already been made, now technical procedures remain, which should be completed before the end of the year, therefore I hope that our citizens will be able to travel without visas [to the Schengen area] very soon,” PM Garibashvili said.

“We expect to get visa-free regime maybe next year. We stay committed and we continue our reforms,” he added.

Latvian PM Laimdota Straujuma told journalists upon arrival at the summit that the foreign ministers were still working on the final draft of the declaration of the Riga Summit. She said that “good news” was that the declaration would say that if the European Commission’s report on implementation of visa liberalisation action plan, expected before the end of this year, shows that Georgia meets all the criteria, the country will get visa-free travel rules next year. “So it’s a good news for Georgia,” the Latvian PM said.

Estonian PM Taavi Rõivas told journalists in Riga that “once criteria are met then there should not be any obstacles” for visa waiver. He also said that he hopes “to see a clear perspective” of EU membership for some Eastern Partnership countries as it is important to know that “movement towards EU membership is possible and achievable.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also arrived in Riga, told German lawmakers in Bundestag earlier on May 21 that visa-free travel rules for citizens of Georgia and Ukraine in the Schengen area will only be possible once all requirements are met.

Referring to the recent report of the European Commission on implementation of visa liberalisation action plan by Georgia and Ukraine, Merkel said that the both countries put a great deal of effort, but it is “not yet enough” and “a lot still needs to be done” by Georgia and Ukraine in this regard.

Earlier on May 21 Georgian PM Garibashvili participated in a meeting of Party of European Socialists (PES) in Riga. Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, which the PM chairs, is a partner of PES.

Also on May 21 a meeting of European People’s Party (EPP) was held in Riga where Georgia’s former President Mikheil Saakashvili participate; United National Movement (UNM), chaired by Saakashvili, is a partner party of EPP.

Speaking with Georgian journalists in Riga on May 21, Saakashvili, who chairs Ukrainian President’s advisory council on reforms, blamed the Georgian government for, what he called, a failure to meet criteria necessary for getting EU visa waiver.

“The Georgian government does not care at all whether our citizens will be able to travel to Europe without visas,” said Saakashvili, who is wanted in Georgia on multiple criminal charges, which he denies as politically motivated. “They [the Georgian authorities] and their family members can anyway travel to Europe, they spend holidays at European resorts. They are depriving people, who are hungry, who have lost their jobs and are ready to go in any country for earning a livelihood, even this last opportunity – although I am not at all happy that Georgians may go abroad because of these reasons… At EPP summit, where I participated and where our party [UNM] is a member, we adopted a declaration [calling for EU visa waiver], but it’s not enough; what can the opposition party do without the government doing anything?”

“We should understand one thing – no one will accept the country, where people are hungry, because everyone is afraid that those people will rush abroad. Second – there are political prisoners in [Georgia],” Saakashvili said.

The European Commission said in its report on May 8 that despite significant progress, Georgia “still needs to address the remaining recommendations” in its visa liberalization action plan.

The European Commission said that it will report on Georgia’s further progress on the implementation of the visa liberalisation action plan by the end of 2015.

The Commission, however, also said that “in view of the significant progress Georgia has made in the past few months, the Commission is ready to bring forward the timing of the next report provided that the rapid progress… continues.”

The report assesses Georgia’s progress in meeting benchmarks set under the VLAP in four blocks that involve document security, border and migration management, public order, and external relations and fundamental rights. It assesses these benchmarks as either “achieved”, “almost achieved” or “partially achieved”.

The report deemed benchmarks related to document security, integrated border management, fighting organized crime, protection of personal data, freedom of movement, issuance of travel and identity documents, and international legal cooperation in criminal matters as “achieved”.

Benchmarks in migration management, money laundering, cooperation between various law enforcement agencies, and citizens’ rights that include minority protection have been deemed by the report as “almost achieved”. Benchmarks in asylum, human trafficking, anti-corruption and drugs are deemed as “partially achieved.”

Concerning combating corruption, the report calls on Georgia to pursue the reform of the civil service with laws in line with international practices that would set the scope and standards for a professional and depoliticized civil service and would further strengthen the practical protection of whistleblowers.

Concerning drug policies, the report says that although Georgia made substantial progress in implementing a national anti-drug strategy, the policy “remains based more on retribution than restorative action.”