Brussels, 23/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - At the seventh annual ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership on Monday 23 May, Georgia's Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidz, said he was “reassured” about obtaining a visa-free regime for his country's nationals in the future.
“We received the support of all the foreign ministers at this meeting”, Janelidz said. Georgia says it is “pleased” that this issue of visa liberalisation is “on the agenda”, he added. On Tuesday 24 May, the EU member state ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) will discuss the proposal of visa liberalisation for Georgia for short stays in the Schengen area. This discussion took place at the European Commission back in early March (see EUROPE 11508). Coreper could thus give is political agreement, as Georgia has fulfilled all the 72 criteria needed for the visa waiver process to begin.
However, according to a European source, a large majority of countries are not reported to be in favour of liberalising the visa-free regime unless the enhanced suspension mechanism is definitely approved at the European Parliament. The Council gave it political agreement in principle on this issue on Friday 20 May (see EUROPE 11555). Janelidze said he hoped that “significant discussions” might take place at Coreper. Georgia's Minister of State Viktor Dolidze said that his country was showing “patience” in the face of how slowly the process was moving forward. (Original version in French by Maelle Didion)