| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2015) 199 final (8.5.15) |
| Publication Date | 08/05/2015 |
| Content Type | Policy-making, Report |
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The European Union launched a visa liberalisation dialogue with Georgia in June 2012. In February 2013, the European Commission presented the Georgian Government with an action plan on visa liberalisation (VLAP). This set out the benchmarks Georgia needs to meet before Georgian nationals holding biometric passports can enter the Schengen zone for short stays without needing a visa. In November 2013, the Commission adopted its first progress report on Georgia’s implementation of the VLAP and made several recommendations for completing implementation of the first-phase (legislative and planning) VLAP benchmarks. In October 2014, the Commission adopted its second progress report, which concluded that Georgia fulfilled the first-phase benchmarks of the VLAP and was ready to be assessed on whether it was achieving the second-phase benchmarks. In its conclusions of 17 November 2014, the Council concurred with the Commission’s assessment. In December 2014 Georgia submitted an updated progress report. Evaluation missions under the lead of the Commission on all four blocks of the VLAP took place from December 2014 to March 2015, involving experts from EU Member States, assisted by the Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU Delegation to Georgia. This is the first progress report on Georgia’s implementation of the second phase of the VLAP. It presents the progress achieved so far, sets out how the second-phase benchmarks have been addressed and recommends measures Georgia should take to implement the remaining second-phase benchmarks effectively and sustainably. This report is accompanied by a Commission staff working document which looks in greater detail at the developments described here. In annex of the staff working document, as required by the VLAP methodology, the Commission provides factual analysis and statistics based information regarding the expected migratory and security impacts of the future visa liberalisation. The data and information available give prospective main trends in migration and security areas, showing that EU is an attractive destination for migrants from Georgia with potential security challenges to be monitored. |
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| Source Link | http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2015:199:FIN |
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| Countries / Regions | Georgia |
