EU Council, Parliament Reach Agreement on Visa-Free Regime for Georgia

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on the visa-free regime for the citizens of Georgia, Slovak EU Council Presidency said on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — ​On June 27, 2014, Brussels and Tbilisi signed the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, which entered into force on July 1.

Good news for #Georgia's citizens: political agreement b/w @EUCouncil & @Europarl_EN on #Georgia visa lib. Next step @EUCouncil soon. pic.twitter.com/uCzsyd7rz4

— EU2016SK (@eu2016sk) 13 декабря 2016 г.

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

The initiation is set to be voted by the European Parliament before the Council of the European Union adoption.

On December 9, a source in the parliament told RIA Novosti that the European Parliament would vote on the mechanism of suspending visa-free regimes with third countries on December 15.