European Parliament Postpones Vote on Visa-Free Regime for Georgia

The European Parliament has postponed the vote on granting Georgia visa-free regime until Strasbourg session later in February, a diplomatic source told Sputnik on Wednesday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — According to the parliament's agenda, the vote was set to take place during part-session in Brussels on February 2.

"As far as I know, the vote is postponed until the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg in February," the source said.

The European Parliament's session in Strasbourg will take place on February 13-16.

The proposal for the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens was issued by the European Commission on March 9, 2016, since the country met all the conditions for the visa requirement exemption. On July 7, the parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs also recommended to grant visa-free regime to the residents of Ukraine, Georgia and Kosovo. The process was then delayed by negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on the visa suspension mechanism.

In December 2016, the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached an agreement on an emergency suspension mechanism to be triggered in case of overwhelming migration. Such an agreement has been among the conditions raised by the Council for the liberalization of the visa regime for Ukraine and Georgia.

On January 12, 2017, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament approved a visa waiver for Georgia.