MEPs from LIBE Committee Back Visa Waiver for Georgia

European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) voted on September 5 in favor of a proposal to lift visa requirements in the Schengen area for Georgian citizens holding biometric passports.

The proposal was backed by the LIBE committee with 44 votes to 5, paving the way for the plenary vote in the European Parliament.

It is not yet clear when the proposal will be put on vote in the European Parliament plenary.

The issue is not included in a draft agenda of the next plenary sitting of the European Parliament, scheduled for September 12-15. Following sessions in the plenary are scheduled for October 3-6 and then for October 24-27.

In parallel, the proposal for lifting visa requirements in the Schengen area 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 last-minute objection from Germany, dashing Tbilisi’s hopes to finalize the process in summer.

MEPs from the LIBE committee also voted in favor of opening inter-institutional negotiations on Georgia’s visa waiver proposal – a legislative procedure when the European Parliament enters into negotiations on a legislative proposal with other EU institutions, including the Council, whose approval is also required for the visa liberalisation to enter into force.

Also on September 5 LIBE committee voted narrowly in favor of visa waiver for Kosovo – 25 were in favor and 24 against. Opening of the inter-institutional negotiations on Kosovo’s visa liberalisation file, however, was rejected by the committee.

A report on Georgia’s visa liberalisation, prepared by Bulgarian MEP Mariya Gabriel from the group of the European People’s Party (EPP), which was adopted by the LIBE committee, reiterates that Georgia met all of its reform targets envisaged under the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan.

This plan, according to the report, “has proven to be an effective tool for promoting a range of far-reaching and difficult reforms for instance in the justice and home affairs area.”

“The rapporteur [MEP Mariya Gabriel] draws attention to the need to further step up efforts for sustainable progress in areas such as freedom of the media, independence of judiciary, and fairness of elections and the increased participation of women and national minority representatives,” reads the report.

The report also notes that against the background of growing trend of visa applications from Georgia, the visa refusal rate has remained almost the same in 2015 at 12.9%, with the slight increase compared to 12.7% in 2014.

“According to the latest statistics by Eurostat in 2014 the number of entry refusals at the external borders of EU 28 decreased by 61% compared to 2013, and by 56.5% in 2015,” according to the report.