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Germany’s Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has proposed talks on formal suspension of the European Union membership process for Georgia.
According to the Minister, the proposal comes due to the Georgian government’s anti-European stance and the violence against pro-European demonstrators, Schengen.News reports.
Baerbock told Deutschland that Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream had put the accession process on hold with its anti-European shift, and thereby effectively suspended it.
She emphasized that the award of EU candidate status in December 2023 was connected to a clear message of reform. However, Baerbock said that instead of progress Georgia is making an alarming regression.
She said that as a result, the Federal Foreign Office has scaled back its cooperation with the authorities in this country, suspending support projects worth €200 million.
EU Commission Proposes Suspension of Visa-Free Travel Agreement
The nearly one-month ongoing protests in Georgia began following the announcement of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze, to suspend membership talks with the European Union until 2028.
Earlier this month, the European Commission proposed to partially suspend the EU-Georgia visa-free travel agreement.
If approved by the Council, Georgian diplomats, officials as well as their family members would be obliged to apply for a visa in order to travel to the European Union countries for short-term stays of up to 90 days within a 180-day period.
However, the Commission said that the decision would not have a negative impact on people-to-people contacts after Georgian nationals, as well as holders of ordinary passports, will still benefit from the visa exemption when travelling to the bloc countries for short-term stays.
If the proposal would be approved by the Council, once becoming effective, the EU countries would have to impose visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, service/official and special passports issued by Georgia.
Source: https://schengen.news/german-foreign-minister-pushes-for-talks-on-suspending-georgias-eu-accession-process/
