| Author (Corporate) | European Commission |
|---|---|
| Series Title | COM |
| Series Details | (2016) 142 final (9.3.16) |
| Publication Date | 09/03/2016 |
| Content Type | Policy-making |
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The EU-Georgia Visa Liberalisation Dialogue was launched in June 2012. In February 2013, the European Commission presented the Georgian Government with an action plan on visa liberalisation (VLAP). The Commission committed itself to proposing visa-free travel for short stays in the European Union to Georgian nationals holding biometric passports as soon as all the benchmarks set in the VLAP have been met by the Georgian Government. Before the start of the Visa Liberalisation Dialogue, the EU and Georgia had concluded in parallel a Visa Facilitation Agreement and a Readmission Agreement, which entered into force on 1 March 2011. Their full and effective implementation has been an underlying condition for the launch and the continuation of the visa dialogue. The VLAP is structured around four 'blocks': document security, including biometrics (block I), migration and integrated border management, including asylum (block II), public order and security (block III), and external relations and fundamental rights (block IV). The VLAP sets out a series of precise benchmarks for each of these four 'blocks' of technically relevant issues with a view to adopting a legislative, policy and institutional framework (phase 1) and ensuring its effective and sustainable implementation (phase 2). Since the launch of the EU-Georgia Visa Liberalisation Dialogue, the Commission has reported to the European Parliament and the Council on Georgia's progress towards fulfilling the benchmarks identified under the four blocks of the VLAP's first and second phases. Progress has been assessed on the basis of on-site evaluations by experts from EU Member States and detailed information provided by Georgia. On 15 November 2013 the Commission adopted its first progress report on Georgia’s implementation of the VLAP and made several recommendations for completing the first (legislative and planning) phase. The Commission's second progress report of 29 October 2014 concluded that Georgia had fulfilled the first-phase benchmarks of the VLAP and was ready to be assessed on the second-phase benchmarks. In its conclusions of 17 November 2014, the Council agreed with the Commission’s assessment. The report was accompanied by an assessment of the potential migratory and security impacts of future visa liberalisation for Georgian citizens travelling to the EU. The Commission adopted the third progress report on Georgia's implementation of the VLAP on 8 May 2015. The report confirmed that Georgia was broadly in line with all the benchmarks set in the four blocks of the VLAP and identified actions that, if taken, would ensure that Georgia fulfills all benchmarks for the second phase of the VLAP. In its fourth and final progress report, adopted on 18 December 2015, the Commission considered that Georgia had made the necessary progress and had undertaken all the required reforms to ensure the effective and sustainable achievement of the remaining benchmarks. Based on this assessment, and given the outcome of the continuous monitoring and reporting that had been carried out since the launch of the EU-Georgia Visa Liberalisation Dialogue, the Commission confirmed that Georgia had met all the benchmarks set for each of the four blocks of the VLAP's second phase and that it would present, in early 2016, a legislative proposal to amend Regulation (EC) No 539/2001, transferring Georgia to the list of visa-free countries (Annex II). |
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| Source Link | http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2016:142:FIN |
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| Countries / Regions | Europe, Georgia |
