EU Suspends Visa-Free Travel for Georgian Diplomats and Officials

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Above: Protestors gather demonstrating against the suspension of Georgia's EU accession negotiations for four years continue in the capital, Tbilisi on Jan. 23, 2025. Image copyright: Davit Kachkachishvili/Anadolu via Getty Images

The Facts

  • The Council of the EU decided on Monday to suspend visa-free short-term travel for Georgian citizens who hold diplomatic, service, or official passports, and special passports. Only two countries — Hungary and Slovakia — voted in opposition.

  • This suspension specifically targets delegates attending official meetings and other events, national and regional government and parliament members, and members of Georgia's Constitutional and Supreme Courts.

  • Late last year, EU foreign ministers asked the European Commission to propose the suspension of visa-free travel for Georgian authorities without punishing ordinary citizens, after Hungary and Slovakia vetoed measures such as visa bans and asset freezes.

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

EU ministers have finally stepped in to support the people of Georgia and hold to account those in Tbilisi that are responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations, as well as for moves that could undermine democratic freedoms in the country.

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Establishment-critical narrative

This largely symbolic and ineffective decision only shows that hypocrisy runs high in Brussels. The very EU that is now punishing Georgian authorities for nonsensical claims of democratic regress also granted visa-free travel for diplomats of the authoritarian and corrupt Saakashvili regime.

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