EU May Cancel Visa-Free Regime With Georgia

• 6.12.2024, 16:04

The initiative was put forward by the Netherlands.

The Dutch authorities will propose to the EU leadership to cancel the visa-free regime with Georgia due to the dispersal of protesters against the rejection of European integration by the country's authorities, said the country's Foreign Minister Kaspar Veldkamp.

“Violence against protesters and journalists, as well as the arrests of politicians in Georgia, are unacceptable. That is why the Netherlands will call on the EU to suspend the visa-free regime with Georgia,” Veldkamp wrote on social media. He also welcomed the personal sanctions that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed against the founder of the Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili and high-ranking officials of the republic's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The day before, on December 5, sanctions against the Georgian leadership were also imposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to him, the restrictions affected that part of the Georgian authorities that “hands over” the country to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelensky called on the US, EU and other partners of Kyiv to “act in principle” and also impose restrictions against the Georgian authorities. “We cannot lose anyone in this region — neither Georgia, nor Moldova, nor Ukraine. Together we must defend ourselves against Moscow,” the Ukrainian president emphasized.