Date of EU Final Approval of Visa-Free Regime With Georgia Yet Undefined

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — The visa-free access to the European Union for Georgia should be approved by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament in order to come into force, but a date of the final approval has not been set yet, a source told RIA Novosti Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament approved visa-free access to the bloc for Georgia, with the visa-free regime being approved with 42 "yes" votes and two against.

"After it will be approved by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, the approval of the European Council is needed. But I cannot say when it will happen," the source close to European Parliament member Mariya Gabriel, who prepared a special report on visa-free regime to Georgia, said when asked if the final decision could be taken at the EU summit in March.

Earlier in the day, Gabriel called on the Council of the European Union "to terminate the internal technical procedures as soon as possible" so that the parliament could vote on the matter at a plenary session in February and "thus send a clear and concrete signal to all Georgian citizens."

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 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.