The European Union Parliament has adopted a resolution proposing that the Commission revises the visa-free travel regime with Georgia.
Such a proposal from the Parliament comes after the Georgian parliament passed a controversial “foreign agents” bill, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
The bill, which only passed its first reading and needs to pass another two readings before it becomes effective, would make it mandatory for all organisations in the country that receive funding from abroad to be labelled as “foreign agents.”
The same bill would also give the Gerogian relevant authorities the right to monitor internal discussions within these organisations.
Such a bill has sparked concerns among the EU authorities for its similarity with a similar law in Russia.
For this reason, the Parliament has required that the authorities start investigating the matter and consider taking measures against Georgia.
Bill Is Incompatible With EU Values & Democratic Principles, EU Parliament Stressed
Highlighting that the bill is incompatible with the EU values and democratic principles and betrays the aspirations of Georgians to live in a democratic country, the EU Parliament said in its resolution that the EU accession negotiations should not be opened with Georgia as long as this law is part of the country’s legal order.
The European Parliament stresses that EU accession negotiations should not be opened as long as this law is part of Georgia’s legal order.
The EU Parliament further denounced the fact that the government of Georgia is taking inspiration from similar legislation in Russia to label and discriminate against organisations and activists intentionally.
Georgia gained the EU candidate status in December of last year. However, taking into account the recent developments, the EU officials have stressed that Georgia risks this chance if it decides to approve the bill.
The re-introduction of the bill, which includes several other changes that undermine human rights, has also sparked mass protests in Georgia.
Since the re-introduction of the bill, daily protests have been held in Georgia.
Suspension of Visa-Free Travel for Georgians Impossible, Georgia’s Vice PM Said
While the EU authorities have proposed to introduce strict measures against Georgia in case it decides to implement the bill into its law, the Vice Prime Minister of the country, Tea Tsulukiani, said that it is improbable and impossible for the EU to suspend the visa-free travel regime for Georgians.
According to her, there are many procedural issues that would not permit the EU authorities to do so.
She further blamed the EU Parliament for trying to punish Georgia despite her country wanting to introduce a controversial bill.
