From December 2025, new EU rules on suspending visa-free travel with third countries will take effect. The act was signed in the European Parliament on November 26. In addition to previous grounds, the list now includes violations of human rights, fundamental freedoms and international law.
In Brussels, officials believe the situation in Georgia falls under these criteria. After receiving EU candidate status, the country has, in the view of European institutions, moved away from democratic standards. In the annual enlargement report published on November 4, the European Commission sharply criticized Tbilisi. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called it the worst report any country had ever received.
The EU’s complaints concern laws restricting NGOs, media outlets and activists, the arrests of opposition leaders, and plans to ban several parties through the Constitutional Court. The European Commission says it has already reduced high-level political contacts, halted bilateral assistance benefiting the authorities, and increased support for civil society and independent media.
At the same time, the EU is trying to avoid a measure that would punish the public. The new mechanism makes it possible to suspend visa-free travel not for all citizens but for specific officials who fail to implement the Commission’s recommendations. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas explicitly linked this approach to the Georgian case.
Nacho Sanchez Amor, the Social Democrats’ foreign policy coordinator in the European Parliament, has spoken about the possibility of drawing up a broad list of around 2,000 people, including family members. According to him, restrictions could affect not only ministers but also judges, prosecutors and senior police officials. Separate sanctions against Georgian officials have already been imposed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.
“We wanted to create an instrument that responds to Georgian Dream’s repression without punishing the people,” Sanchez Amor said.
Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili says visa restrictions for holders of diplomatic passports do not create major problems. European diplomats, however, note that restoring visa procedures for specific members of the elite and their families would be a sensitive blow. German Ambassador Peter Fischer also warned that at the December meeting of the European Council, EU leaders would likely formally consider Georgia’s enlargement track closed.