European Commissioner says Georgia-EU visa-free deal is not at any risk

European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn claims that the EU-Georgia visa-free deal signed in 2017 is not at risk as there is no reason for the use of the suspension mechanism.

“Of course, there are people who have no reason but seek political asylum in the EU. However, the number of such Georgians compared to the whole number of asylum seekers in the EU member states is insignificant,” Hahn said.

Several foreign ambassadors [French, German, Swiss, Sweden] acting in Georgia stated this week that they wished to meet with Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia to discuss ways of decreasing the number of Georgian asylum seekers in their countries.

They said that after the EU-Georgia visa agreement the number of Georgian illegal migrants to their countries has increased and added that they did not want Georgians to lose the opportunity of the visa-free travel to the Schengen zone.

French ambassador Pascal Meunier says that Georgians are asking for political asylum in France, when “actually they have economic motivations.”

“Georgia is on the list of safe countries in France, and nobody who applies for political asylum in France will receive [it]”, Meunier said.

Meunier says that the number of Georgian asylum seekers in France has increased after the enactment of the Georgia-EU visa-free deal in March 2017.

“In December 2017 we received 1,000 applications from Georgian citizens asking for political asylum, while the figures in previous months were up to 200. We should discuss ways with the Georgian Interior Minister of how the problem might be settled," Meunier said.

More than 300,00 Georgians traveled visa-free to the EU since March 2017.