EU’s Civil Liberties Committee Backs Visa Waiver for Georgia and Kosovo

STRASBURG, France – The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee on Monday voted to grant citizens of Georgia and Kosovo the right to travel to the Schengen zone without a visa.

With 44 votes in favor and 5 against for Georgia; 25 votes for and 24 against, as well as 2 abstentions, for Kosovo; the committee approved visa-free travel for citizens of both nations who possess a biometric passport.

Negotiations for visa liberalization began in 2012. By the end of 2015, the EU Commission had concluded that the country had fulfilled all of Brussels’ benchmarks.

The visa waiver issue is not included on the agenda of the European Parliament’s next plenary session on September 12-15. Without a last-minute amendment to the parliament’s debate schedule, the issue of a new visa regime for both Georgia and Kosovo would take place at the next plenary session on October 3-6 or October 24-27.

EU Parliament member Maria Gabriel said visa-free travel to the Schengen Zone is a vitally important step for both Georgia and Kosovo towards strengthening their economic and cultural relations with EU members and add a further impetuous for the governments in Tbilisi and Pristina to pursue widespread political and human rights reforms.

“More efforts are necessary when it comes to media freedom, women’s and minority rights and judicial reform,” Gabriel said.

Citizens of Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo, had originally expected to receive visa-free travel to the EU’s Schengen Zone this past summer, but Germany suddenly backtracked on its previous support over concerns about organized crime links and unfettered immigration.

The abolition of the Schengen Zone’s visa regime for Georgian citizens requires approval from the council of EU home affairs and justice ministers, which failed to agree on the issue in June after Germany’s last-minute about-face.

The EU is now making it easier to suspend visa waivers for countries wishing to move closer towards full integration with Brussels.

The visa waiver regime allows easier access - but not working rights - for up to 90 days in the Schengen Zone and several non-EU members.

By Tamar Svanidze
Edited by Nicholas Waller