While Mikhail Saakashvili is sure that a visa-free regime won’t result in wide-scale emigration from Georgia
The visit of the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to Georgia was deemed more successful by Georgian experts than that by the NATO General Secretary. During Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s visit, Georgian leaders couldn’t get any conclusive answer to the possibility of the country’s membership of NATO, while Catherine Ashton promised that the talks on a visa-free regime and a free trade zone will be launched before the year’s end.
Baroness Ashton’s first visit to Georgia took place in July 2010, when she and Mikhail Saakashvili inked a memorandum on Georgia-EU association talks. Eight EU members – Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland and Romania – supported Georgia’s desire to start free-trade-zone talks. In order to prove Brussels’ serious intentions, the head of the EU consulate in Georgia signed a 19-million-euro deal with the Georgian PM in the framework of the EU regional cooperation program.
According to Paata Zakareshvili, Nationalism and Conflicts Studies University expert, relations with NATO hit a dead-end after the 2008 crisis, while the relations with EU are developing, even though at a very slow pace. "It is worth remembering, though, that our participation in the EU ‘eastern partnership’ program doesn’t guarantee our future membership in the Union, as our authorities often present it," Mr Zakareshvili told VK.
As for the visa-free regime, for now there is no talk of a total lifting of visas, the Georgian Foreign Ministry is preparing a package of documents to ease the procedure for obtaining a Schengen visa by certain categories of Georgian citizens.
It seems that EU officials don’t ignore Russia’s opinion on the matter. Right after her Caucasian trip, Baroness Ashton traveled to Moscow to take part in the Permanent EU-Russia Partnership Council meeting, while during her meeting with President Saaakashvili she specifically thanked him for agreeing to Russia’s membership of the WTO. She also set a date for the beginning of Georgia-EU free-trade-zone talks – December 25.
Baroness Ashton was more careful in her words about visa-free-regime talks and didn’t name any specific dates. Mikhail Saakashvili, for his part, said that he is sure that a visa-free regime wouldn’t result in an increase in the level of emigration from Georgia. He pointed out that over the past few years more people came back to Georgia than permanently left the county and there is no reason for this trend to change. President Saakashvili also expressed his confidence that one day Georgia will become an EU member.
By Georgy Kalatozishvili, exclusively to VK
