In the shadow of the curtain: The European Union may cancel visa-free travel with Georgia

The EU allows the abolition of the visa-free regime with Georgia after the adoption of a new law on foreign agents, European Parliament deputy Tomasz Zdechowski told Izvestia. According to him, if the document is approved, further sanctions against Tbilisi cannot be ruled out. The final reading will be considered in April, the ruling party told Izvestia. A year ago, the adoption of the bill "on transparency of foreign influence" caused mass protests in the republic and sharp criticism from the West. Why the toughened version of the document is not accompanied by actions now and how relations between Tbilisi and Brussels can develop after that — in the Izvestia article.

EU's reaction to the bill on foreign agents in Georgia

On March 18, the Parliament of Georgia adopted the bill on foreign agents in the second reading. The final, third draft is planned to be considered in early April, the ruling Georgian Dream party told Izvestia.

— We will consider it in the third reading in two weeks, in the first week of April. We will consider it approximately on Tuesday or Thursday," said Deputy Shota Khabareli.

The EU allows the abolition of visa-free travel with Georgia in the event of the adoption of a new law, European Parliament deputy Tomasz Zdechowski told Izvestia. This regime has been established between the parties since 2017.

— The process of liberalizing the EU visa regime is closely linked to the continuous implementation of specific benchmarks, including the rule of law, respect for human rights and the functioning of democratic institutions. If the adoption of the law on foreign agents is assessed as a serious departure from these obligations, the EU has mechanisms to initiate the suspension process," he said.

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Such a decision will require careful assessment and consensus among the member states, but it remains within the EU's toolkit, Zdechowski stressed, although the EU does not rule out the introduction of new sanctions against Tbilisi if the document is adopted.

"If the proposed law on foreign agents is adopted and is seen as a tool to suppress civil society or political dissent, further measures, including sanctions, cannot be ruled out," he said.

The European Parliament has previously called for targeted sanctions against specific individuals, the MP stressed. In January 2025, the EU Council partially suspended the visa-free regime for an indefinite period for a number of Georgian diplomats and officials.

The Georgian document is called the "Foreign Agents Registration Act," and it is an exact copy of the American FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act). It defines the concept of a foreign agent, regulates the procedure for its registration and the submission of a financial declaration. The status of a foreign agent can be obtained not only by a legal entity with foreign financing, but also by individuals. They will face criminal liability for evading the requirements.

The simplified version of the bill was adopted by the Georgian authorities last year, the document was called "on transparency of foreign influence." At that time, a list of NGOs and media outlets appeared in the republic, which receive more than 20% of their income from foreign sources. But an important point: evading registration did not entail criminal liability, but a fine of more than $ 9 thousand.

The adoption of the bill was accompanied by large protests. Several times they escalated into clashes with the security forces. Right now, the situation in the republic is calm, says Shota Khabareli. He attributes this to the cessation of financing of the opposition from the West.

Regulation of the work of NGOs and NGOs is a particularly acute issue for Georgia. Of the more than 30,000 non-profit organizations registered in the republic, about 25,000 have been inactive for many years. In 2023, the turnover of NGOs in Georgia amounted to GEL 254.2 million (more than $88 million). Almost 90% of such organizations in the republic conceal information about their monetary grants, according to a study by Georgian Dream. 97% of non-governmental organizations do not publish annual reports, and 62% of NGOs do not provide information about their donors.

In Tbilisi, NGOs were accused of destabilizing the political situation. As an example, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze cited the organization "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" (ISFED), which was funded by USAID. During the parliamentary elections in 2020, this organization rigged the results of the parallel vote count, which was supposed to provoke protests, the prime minister emphasized.

It is probably for these reasons that the authorities decided to adopt the law on the eve of the parliamentary elections that took place on October 26, 2024. Legislative elections are considered to be the most important in the republic.

Relations between Georgia and the West

After reviewing the draft law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, as well as approving a law banning LGBT propaganda (the movement is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation), Tbilisi's relations with the West have significantly cooled. The document was opposed by the EU, the United States under the Joe Biden administration, the Council of Europe and international organizations — the OSCE, the UN.

At that time, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said that the doors of unification would be closed to Georgia if its government continued its course. At that time, the EU announced the de facto suspension of the republic's accession process. It has also partially suspended financial assistance to Tbilisi.

The law was criticized by Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic. Germany has separately announced the termination of financial support. Interestingly, in November 2024, the Turkish authorities also prepared a bill on countering foreign influence, but then there were no statements criticizing Ankara from the West.

The document also exacerbated the split within the country: the pro-Western ex-president Salome Zurabishvili, who was considered the leader of the opposition, vetoed the law. Parliament later overcame it.

In Tbilisi, such a sharp reaction to the adoption of the law was attributed to the desire of the West to open a "second front" in the conflict in Ukraine. By the way, it was the promise of guaranteed peace that Georgian Dream used in the run-up to the vote.

The parliamentary elections, which were won by the "Dream", were also accompanied by protests. It was the ex-president who called for them a couple of days after the vote. The pro-Western opposition parties resigned their mandates, and as a result, a one-party parliament met for the first time in Georgia. After that, unrest accompanied all major political events — the election of a new president, who became Mikhail Kavelashvili, as well as his inauguration.

The protests have only recently begun to subside. The stabilization of the situation was recorded just with the arrival of the new US administration, the beginning of a dialogue between Washington and Moscow, and restrictions on the activities of USAID.

Currently, the adoption of a new law on foreign agents is unlikely to have a radical impact on Georgia's relations with the West, former head of the Georgian President's office Petre Mamradze tells Izvestia.

"Everything has changed radically because the Trump administration began its work with the statement that the intervention and financing provided to NGOs in different countries only contributed to the destabilization of the situation," he said.

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As for the European Union, it may agree to impose some kind of sanctions, but a radical change in relations should not be expected. The association now has enough of its own political twists and turns against the background of the beginning of the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, so they simply do not have the resources to put pressure on Tbilisi, Mamradze believes.

If we consider the formal aspects, the European Union does not have many levers of pressure here either. Georgia still has the status of a "candidate" to the EU, and there is no mechanism for revoking this status after it is granted.

The European Union can suspend accession negotiations, review work reports for candidate countries, the European Commission can make the candidate status inactive or completely cancel financial assistance. But in November 2024, Georgia itself abandoned negotiations on joining the European Union, it postponed them until the end of 2028. Also, for this period, Tbilisi rejected all grant funds from the EU. Against this background, the US authorities under Biden suspended their strategic partnership with the republic.