European Parliament Committee to Vote on Visa-Free Access to EU for Georgia

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs at the European Parliament will vote on the visa-free access to the bloc for Georgia on Thursday at 9:10 a.m. local time (08:00 GMT).

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The proposal for the visa waiver for Georgia was issued by the European Commission on March 9, 2016, 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.

In December 2016, the Council of the European Union, 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.

If the committee votes in favor of the visa-free regime for Georgia, the decision will have to be approved by the majority of the European Parliament lawmakers.

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