Video: https://youtu.be/bIK6KCu9J3M
Dear all,
Dear friends,
First, let me thank Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili for a very warm welcome.
I am personally honoured and delighted to be here with you today, to jointly celebrate this historic day when the EU and Georgia come one step closer to each other.
On the basis of a proposal the Commission presented and after the vote of the European Parliament,today, the Council of the European Union decided to lift the visa requirement for Georgian citizens.
So, the final decision has been taken. The moment has finally come to celebrate together and to congratulate Georgia and the Georgian people.
I know that you all have been waiting a long time for this to happen.
Very soon now, we will formally complete the remaining procedural and administrative steps:
I hope that soon (by the end of March) Georgian citizens with a biometric passport will be able to travel without a visa to the Schengen area. It’s a question of few weeks.
There will be no more going back and forth to consulates with your passports for your short visits.
You should be very proud of this great achievement.
It is the result of common efforts of the Georgian people and the Georgian authorities since 2012.
This success in its implementation must be protected by all democratic forces and citizens.
It is because you worked hard and quickly achieved tangible progress in meeting all the benchmarks under the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan in all the different areas: from border management and asylum policy, to fighting corruption and organised crime, and improving data protection
It was in December 2015, in its last implementation report that the Commission considered that Georgia had fulfilled all the benchmarks.
Hard work was done also on the side of our Member States throughout all this process and I would like to thank them for their commitment and efforts.
And those who had some doubts have been reassured by the revised suspension mechanism, also adopted today, which applies horizontally to all visa-free countries.
But I am convinced that Georgia will maintain the level of progress and achievements, and continue implementing the benchmarks, with the same commitment it has shown to fulfil them.
Not only to maintain the visa-free travel to Europe but more importantly because all these reforms have been beneficial for this country.
Georgia is an example of progress and reforms that bring it one step further to its European path.
Dear friends,
The EU looks forward to welcoming Georgian citizens soon who come:
As a tourist;
To visit a friend or family;
To attend cultural or sport events;
To attend business meetings;
For journalistic or media purposes;
For Short-term studies or For Training.
Dear Prime Minister,
Today’s historic decision will further facilitate contacts between people, will strengthen business, social and cultural ties between the European Union and Georgia.
In difficult times like these, historic moments like today’s are not just welcome but also needed.
Needed also to remind us the importance of the European project, that some today are putting in question.
The aspiration of Georgia to come closer and, one day, to become member of the European Union as it deserves, because Georgia is a European nation since the beggining of its history, reminds us what this means: it means being part of a Union of peace, of stability, of tolerance, of solidarity and of prosperity.
Georgia is sending to Europe a European message from the future.
Dear friends,
Dear Prime Minister,
Congratulations and Welcome!