The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas has warned that Georgia may lose its visa-free travel arrangement with the bloc should the incumbent Georgian Dream (GD) government not take steps to reverse its current course, which many Western countries have condemned as increasingly authoritarian and anti-European.

At meeting of the European Foreign Affairs Council on July 15, Kallas announced that the EU would lay out certain requirements to which GD must adhere in order for the visa-free regime to remain in place.

“The assault on democracy by Georgian Dream is growing more severe,” the high representative said, adding that Georgia’s democratic backsliding would “come at a cost”.

On July 16, the Georgian Public Broadcaster published a letter sent by the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs of the European Commission to Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili, which outlined eight conditions which GD should meet.

Failure to fulfil these recommendations by a deadline of August 31 will “force” the EU to suspend visa-free travel for Georgians, Kallas warned.

The recommendations include repealing repressive legislation passed by GD in recent months, including an anti-LGBT propaganda bill and “foreign agents” law, strengthening anti-corruption efforts, and ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights for all Georgian citizens.

The letter requested the Georgian government “update the [European] Commission on the implementation of these recommendations by the end of August”, and “take serious action” if the recommendations have not yet been implemented.

The eight points set out in the letter mirror those listed in the EU’s most recent visa evaluation document regarding Georgia, the Seventh Visa Suspension Mechanism Report, which was released in December 2024 in the wake of allegations of human rights abuses by police at pro-EU protests in Tbilisi.

As bne IntelliNews reported, in late January 2025 the EU suspended visa-free travel for Georgian diplomatic and service passport holders, citing GD’s insufficient progress on the recommendations laid out in the Visa Suspension Mechanism report.

Whether or not to apply a blanket suspension on visa free travel for Georgian has become of contention within the EU.

Prior to the July 15 Foreign Affairs Council, certain EU member states expressed the opinion that a hypothetical suspension of visa-free travel should target only those responsible for repression and democratic backsliding, rather than to all Georgian citizens.

The foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Germany, and Latvia sent a joint letter to Kallas and Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, stating that any sanctions regarding visa free travel should apply only to specific high-ranking officials, and should not harm the overall population.

Georgia’s fifth president and opposition rallying point, Salome Zourabichvili, also appealed to Kallas and EU foreign ministers in the run up to the Council session.

“Georgia is facing a deep internal crisis triggered by election fraud. The EU must respond decisively and with a united position,” Zourabichvili stated in an open letter, warning that inaction could “cost the EU a strategic partner and set a dangerous precedent at its borders”, as cited by JamNews.

Response from Georgian Dream

GD has downplayed down the threat of losing visa-free privileges, which Georgia has enjoyed since 2017, and which the EU Commission’s letter notes has delivered “tangible benefits” to Georgian citizens.

In comments to journalists on July 17, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze insisted that the issue of visa-free travel with the EU was not “existential” and expressed doubts that the bloc would ever really suspend it.

He further stated Georgia would “always prioritise” existential issues – peace, national stability and family values – over more convenient travel to Europe, as cited by Civil.ge.

Georgian Dream has frequently accused the EU of using both the visa-free regime and accession to the bloc as bargaining chips to blackmail Georgia into compromise on its national identity and values.