Georgia follows in the footsteps of Vanuatu

The Georgian opposition is confident that official Tbilisi is doing everything to lose the visa-free regime with the European Union. Brussels may make an appropriate decision in the autumn. The Georgian Dream urges fellow citizens not to succumb to blackmail by European bureaucrats.

In 2025, the European Union plans to simplify the procedure for suspending visa-free travel for 61 countries, including Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The reason for this would be, among other things, “serious human rights violations.” For the first time, the European Commission thought about this reform in 2023 in the context of the growing demands of Europeans in the field of combating illegal migration. In April, the first consultations on the upcoming changes began between the European Commission, the EU Council and the European Parliament. The European bureaucrats hope to complete the reform in the autumn.

Unlike other decisions of the European Union, the suspension of the visa–free regime does not require the unanimous consent of all members of the organization – 15 out of 27 votes are sufficient. So far, the suspension of the visa-free regime has been applied only against Vanuatu. This happened in December 2024 due to the launch of a citizenship program for investors in this country, which “poses potential threats to security and migration in EU countries.”

Given that the Georgian Dream government has been heavily criticized by the European Union over the past few years, the Georgians suspected that they would be the next in line to be denied visa-free travel. This version is supported by the fact that in January the EU Council decided to suspend it for Georgian diplomats and officials. In addition, in February, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the abolition of visa-free travel for Georgia due to its departure from democratic values, and in April, the European Parliament’s Permanent Rapporteur on Georgia, Rasa Jukneviciene, said the same thing.

Despite this, the Georgian government has no intention of making concessions to Brussels. As the speaker of the Parliament of the Republic Shalva Papuashvili said, Tbilisi will not succumb to the blackmail of European bureaucrats.

“People who tell us about European values actually want to use cold–blooded pressure on people as a tool to influence the policies of other states… Is the visa-free regime manna from heaven? We also have a visa–free regime for Germans – so what? The visa-free regime means that Georgian tourists travel to Germany and France, spend money there and pour money into their economy. Maybe this is the same arrogant view of some kind of periphery, as if, from their point of view, we get some kind of grace: they say, they give you the opportunity to come to us. The fact that the European Union’s economy is growing at 1% and Georgia’s at 10% today is all because we are thinking economically correctly. If they cancel the visa–free regime and don’t let tourists who spend money in their country in, then they won’t have that either,” Papuashvili said.

The opposition, on the contrary, accused the ruling Georgian Dream of waging a war against its own people. “As part of the declared hybrid war, Dream is trying to prepare us for the loss of a free, visa–free regime to Europe and blames everyone except themselves for this,” says former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, head of the opposition Gakharia for Georgia party.

Nika Gvaramia, one of the leaders of the Coalition for Change, is confident that the Georgian Dream regime simply cannot have a chance to maintain a visa-free regime with the EU. “No one will give visa–free travel to an autocratic regime that colluded with Russia, allied with Iran and China, insulting and harming Europe,” Gvaramia stressed.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have also stated that the authorities are endangering the republic’s European future. With its policy and anti-Western propaganda, Georgian Dream is doing everything possible to ensure that the European Union decides to end visa liberalization as soon as possible, which will put the Georgian people in a difficult situation. The regime is trying to evade responsibility by using propaganda methods. They know for sure that in case of cancellation, the restoration of the visa–free regime will take many years,” the 23 Georgian NGOs said in a joint statement.

As political analyst Nika Chitadze explained to NG, if Georgia loses its visa-free regime with the EU, those who study and work abroad will suffer first of all. “About $3 billion is transferred to Georgia from abroad every year, which is about 12% of the republic’s GDP. Most of the funds come from EU countries, primarily Italy. Our compatriots work there as housekeepers and nurses.… In addition, 20% of Georgian businessmen are oriented towards the EU, and it will also become more difficult for them to work. Transfers from Russia are falling,” he said.