EU could stop letting Georgians move without a visa if the election isn’t free and fair

The EU’s representative to Tbilisi said on Friday that the bloc might temporarily stop letting Georgia enter without a visa if the Oct. 26 parliamentary election in the EU candidate country is not free, fair, and peaceful.

Gaul’s relationships with the West have gotten worse over the past few months. The US and European countries have accused the Georgian government of being authoritarian and pro-Russian.

“Everything is on the table,” Pawel Herczynski, the EU’s representative to Georgia, told reporters. “This includes temporarily ending the visa-free regime with Georgia.”

Since 2017, Georgians can visit up to 90 days in a row to any country in the Schengen area of Europe without a visa.

Herczynski said that if Georgia’s election isn’t seen as free and fair, the EU might take similar steps as they did with Belarus, an authoritarian Russian partner that is under sanctions after an election in 2020 that Western countries and opposition activists in Belarus say was rigged.

The ruling Georgian Dream party says it wants the country in the south Caucasus to join both the EU and NATO. However, over the past two years, it has taken steps to strengthen ties with Russia.

Many people think that Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s ex-prime minister and billionaire, is the country’s most important person. She has said that the West is trying to get her country to go to war with Russia.

Georgian media said that Ivanishvili said Tbilisi should say sorry for the short war with Russia in 2008, which led to Moscow recognizing two rebel regions of Georgia.

The EU gave Georgia candidate status in December, but its bid to become a member was essentially put on hold when Tbilisi passed a law in June about foreign agents that the West calls authoritarian and influenced by Russia.

Western countries have also said bad things about a “family values” bill that lawmakers passed this week and that limits the rights of LGBT people.

Even though it has lost ground since 2020, when it won a narrow majority, studies show that the ruling party is still the most popular party.