MEPs in Foreign Affairs Committee Call for EU Visa Waiver for Georgia, Ukraine, Kosovo
European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted on July 7 opinions calling for granting visa-free travel rules to the Schengen area to the citizens of Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo.
The opinions in favor of visa waiver for the three countries will be sent to European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), which is responsible for visa liberalisation issue.
LIBE committee is expected to vote on the proposal for visa liberalisation for Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo after summer recess.
The proposal then has to be voted by the full house of the European Parliament, which will reconvene after a summer recess on September 12.
Before the visa liberalisation goes into effect, it also requires approval from the council of EU home affairs and justice ministers, which has failed to agree on the issue in June after last-minute objection from Germany, dashing Tbilisi’s hopes to finalize the process this summer, delaying it at least till autumn.
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Some EU members linked Georgia’s visa liberalisation to easier and faster visa-free suspension mechanism – the position, which was also voiced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel after meeting Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili in Berlin on June 15. She, however, also hinted that the EU visa waiver for Georgia could also be linked to visa liberalisation for Ukraine.
On July 7 the European Parliament’s LIBE committee approved easier visa suspension mechanism, which enables to temporarily reintroduce visa requirements for third-country nationals in the event of sudden surges in irregular immigration, unfounded asylum applications or a failure to cooperate with the EU on return of irregular migrants.
MEPs in the Foreign Affairs Committee adopted opinion in favor of Georgia’s visa liberalisation with 43 votes to 5 and 3 abstentions.
Similar opinion on Ukraine was adopted with 42 votes to 3 and 6 abstentions, and on Kosovo with 38 votes to 7 and 6 abstentions.
