According to Rikard Jozwiak, editor of Radio Liberty’s Europe Bureau, the European Union is considering suspending the visa-free regime for diplomatic passports issued by Georgia.

Diplomatic passports are granted by the Georgian government to representatives of various branches of government and their spouses, including MPs, ministers, mayors, and deputies.

Jozwiak noted that suspending the visa-free regime for diplomatic passports does not require the consent of all EU member states; only a simple majority is needed, which means that neither Hungary nor Slovakia can block the decision. However, there is an important consideration: in addition to diplomatic passports, government representatives also hold “regular” biometric passports, for which the visa-free regime will remain in place.

Accordingly, if the EU were to lift the visa-free regime for diplomatic passports, Jozwiak stated that this would be more of a symbolic and political step. The fact that the EU is contemplating the suspension of visa-free travel for holders of specific categories of passports was also confirmed by Ambassador Pawel Herczynski.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue of Georgia on December 16. At the end of next week, the matter will be addressed at the level of EU heads of state and government. The ambassador emphasized that a decision on sanctions would require the consent of all 27 member countries, although he did not rule out the possibility of specific decisions being made.