No additional preconditions for visa-liberalisation
By Tatia Megeneishvili
Wednesday, April 20
The European Union (EU) does not plan to create new preconditions for Georgia to receive a visa-free Regime.
The President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Junker, stated that Georgia and Ukraine are fulfilling all necessary criteria for a visa-free regime.
According to Junker, the decision over the issue of Georgia and Ukraine will be made in upcoming weeks.
“Both countries are following the right way for visa liberalization. Recent negotiations showed that all the criteria were fulfilled by both Georgia and Ukraine,” stated Junker.
However, he also added that there are some difficulties.
“However, Georgia and Ukraine have already received positive estimation by the commission,” stated Junker.
According to Junker, he plans to meet soon with the Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
“During the meeting, I will once again express the support of the European Commission for Georgia’s visa liberalization,” stressed Junker.
For his part, the Foreign Minister of Lithuania Linas Linkevicius expressed his own hope that Georgia and Ukraine will receive a visa free regime by the summer.
Linkevicius underlined that for Georgia and Ukraine, it was not easy to fulfill all the requirements.
“No matter the difficulties, both countries did it. Now it is the EU’s time to implement its decision,” stated Linkevicius.
According to Linkevicius, some of the EU representatives have already spoken about the implementation of a visa free regime.
“I hope that the process will be conducted without any problems. Now, it is the EU’s time to fulfill its part of the job. I hope that the visa free regime will be introduced by the summer,” said Linkevicius.
