Visa-free travel suspension for Georgians to the European Union would not be the right answer at this moment, German Bundestag member, Robin Wagener has said.
Wagener added that the people of Georgia want to be part of the EU and “we want them to be able to travel to Europe” to experience the EU and also see what is like living in the EU, therefore the visa-free travel suspension would not be the right answer at this moment, Schengen.News reports.
Wagener’s comments came in a joint press conference held together with two other German Bundestag members, Thomas Hucker, and Knut Abraham.
Talking about EU-related topics, Thomas Hucker, during the press conference considered that the best way to get to know each other is to travel, in particular for young people, for education purposes, or for work purposes among others. According to him, visa-free travel is necessary to bring different people together.
In this regard, German Bundestag member, Knut Abraham, strongly advised not to touch the visa-free regime for the population.
“It has been a great achievement in 2006 and it was a hard fight not because of technical aspects, [but] because it was a political signal that you belong to us. It is easy to abolish an achievement like that but it is extremely difficult, almost impossible to reinstall it and I fear that with a step like that, we would do the business of circles of people who are not interested in the European future of Georgia.”
Georgia’s Approval of Foreign Agent Law Leading More Countries to Consider Visa-Free Travel Suspension
In May this year, the parliament of Georgia approved the Foreign Agent Law with 84 votes against 30.
Through the bill, NGOs as well as independent media that receive over 20 per cent of their funding from international donors would be obliged to register as organizations “bearing the interest of a foreign power.”
In addition, while being monitored by the Justice Ministry, they could be obliged to share sensitive information or be subject to fines of more than 25,000 GEL ($9,400; £7,500).
The approval of this law sparked protests in Tbilisi with protesters expressing concerns that the legislation would be used by Georgia’s government to repress its opponents.
Soon after the approval of the bill, authorities in the United States issued sanctions on Georgia, among them introducing visa restrictions.
In addition, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that Washington was introducing a comprehensive review of bilateral cooperation between the US and Georgia.
In Europe, the EU Ambassador to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński last month said that the EU Member States may decide to suspend visa-free travel for nationals of Georgia for six months, as a result of the new controversial law approval.