EU-Georgia Visa Free Deal is Facing Difficulties
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, April 26
EU-Georgia visa-free deal was signed in 2017, since then Georgian citizens have been traveling to Schengen countries freely, however, as stated by the European side, some of the Georgian citizens have been misusing the opportunity -2 years later the number of Georgian asylum seekers in European countries is extremely high and thus, today visa waiver is facing particular difficulties.
European Commission official for Migration and Home Affairs, Simon Mordue is visiting Tbilisi concerning the issue. Leaders from the Georgian side have held meetings with the European official. After meeting, Georgian Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani stated that further measures must be taken to prevent the illegal stay of Georgians in the Schengen Zone. According to her, the Georgian government has already provided tough measures against the change of surnames and support for the illegal stay abroad.
Tsulukiani stated, that for 2020, the passport of the Georgian citizen will come in full line with European standards which will prevent Georgians illegally crossing the border of an EU-member state. This initiative has gained the support of Schengen zone countries adequate institutes. Justice Minister reiterated that the visa-free agreement is for short-term goals and not for work purposes. She stated that the visa-free deal is a huge opportunity for Georgian youth and others to familiarize themselves with European culture and participate in short-term educational programmes and everything should be done to preserve it.
Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani stated, that the government of Georgia has prepared a particular plan in order to reduce the number of Georgian asylum seekers in Europe and avoid the activation of the visa-free travel suspension mechanism.
Zalkaliani emphasized the significance of Georgia’s achievement of visa-free travel to the EU and noted, that it should be maintained.
Minister Zalkaliani said the Georgian state reacts to concerns shown by the partner and EU member countries without delay. Earlier in March Zalkaliani announced that Georgian citizens ask for asylum in the EU in vain, given that most European countries have put Georgia on the list of safe countries – as, for an instance, German Bundestag has declared Georgia a safe country on January 18, meaning that Georgians will not be eligible to seek asylum in Germany.
On March 12, Georgian Consuls visited the citizens of Georgia who had to sleep outside in Barcelona, Spain and Amiens, France and advised them to immediately return to the homeland.
Earlier in April, Georgian parliament approved the bill with its third and the final reading – it announces imprisonment as a punishment for providing support to a Georgian citizen to stay illegally in a foreign country. Supporting a Georgian citizen to receive asylum illegally in a foreign country and taking money for the “service” will also be a criminal offense. Both of the offenses will be punishable by two to four years in prison. A repeated offense by a group of individuals will be punishable by six years in prison.
The bill was offered by the ruling party MPs and it aims to suspend the illegal migration of Georgians to EU member states, creating threats to the EU-Georgia visa-free deal.
Despite criticism from the opposition, leaders from the ruling party stay positive about the issue - close cooperation between the governments of the Georgia and European countries along with reforms and stricter border control is thought to improve the existing situation.
