And Georgians, realizing their true interests and understanding what “values” they are trying to impose on them, seem to have cooled off a bit in their passion for travel.
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The European Union may cancel the visa-free regime with Georgia due to the “decline of democracy” in the country, a representative of the European Commission (EC) told Politico. This threat came after the Georgian parliament approved a law banning LGBTI propaganda and gender reassignment in its third and final reading on Tuesday. Before the second vote, the EU delegation in Tbilisi criticized the initiative and warned that the law would make EU relations with Georgia “even more tense.” But it didn’t help: the country’s Prime Minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, responded that for Georgia Europe means traditional Christian values and anything else is categorically unacceptable for Georgians.
Tbilisi’s relations with Brussels deteriorated after the law on foreign agents was passed in Georgia. The West did everything possible to ensure that this law was defeated. It mobilized the opposition for street protests, supported President Salome Zurabishvili, who refused to sign this law as “undemocratic,” and vetoed it. But the parliamentary majority overcame this veto and the law came into force. In response, in July the EU suspended Georgia’s admission process, partially froze financial assistance to Tbilisi, and even adopted sanctions, including against local law enforcement officials, accusing them of forcibly dispersing “peaceful protesters.”
And here is a new violation of “European norms and values,” as EU chief diplomat Borrell put it, by the Georgian authorities: the ban on LGBT* propaganda. They decided to punish this by canceling the visa-free regime. Considering that it was one of the main “carrots” of the West to attract post-Soviet countries, whose residents passionately wanted to freely enter the “blooming garden,” the threat should seem serious. Visa-free travel for Georgian citizens to the Schengen countries has been in force since 2017. But politicians from the ruling Georgian Dream party called on the EU not to blackmail their country with the issue of visa-free travel, making it clear that they will not abandon the laws they consider necessary to preserve it.
Most likely, the visa-free regime will remain in place for now, as a means of exerting pressure on the Georgian electorate on the eve of the parliamentary elections due to be held on October 26. This was practically confirmed by the EU’s permanent representative in Georgia, Pavel Hercinski, who said that the question of suspending the visa-free regime could be considered if the elections “are not free.” The calculation is simple: to intimidate the average person, telling him that if the Georgian Dream remains in power and does not repeal laws that Brussels dislikes, then visa-free travel will be out of reach for Georgia. True, against the background of the partial abolition of visa-free travel between EU member states, when Germany resumed border controls, this threat faded slightly.
It is worth recalling that the history of visa-free travel as a “reward for good behaviour” began in the mid-2000s. At that time, the EU and Russia were on the verge of concluding an agreement to significantly simplify visa procedures. But the new members of the union, Poland and Lithuania, were against it, for purely selfish reasons at the time. And then the brilliant minds of the EU realized: visa-free travel is a reward for loyalty to the West and its values. And the race for this carrot began in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. With all the ensuing political consequences, up to “colour revolutions” and coups d’état.
And now the old weapon is being drawn again. It just doesn’t look so convincing anymore. Ukrainians, mainly men of military age, are on the verge of being forcibly evicted from some European countries to their homeland. And the Georgians, having understood their true interests and understood what “values” they are trying to impose on them, seem to have slightly cooled their passion for moving west.
*The organization is recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation.
