20/12/2016 (Agence Europe) – The permanent representatives’ committee (COREPER) endorsed on Tuesday 20 December an agreement reached on 13 December in trilogue on the granting of a visa-free travel scheme for Georgian passport-holders. The scheme will come into force at the same time as the visa-free travel suspension mechanism, a condition laid down by the member states. Ukraine, Kosovo and Turkey are the other countries for which the European Commission proposed visa-free travel earlier this year, but most progress has been made on the Georgian and Ukrainian schemes. The European Parliament and the member states now need to formally validate the agreement, which means that Georgians will not be able to enter the Schengen Area without a visa until February or March 2017. (SP)