Georgia’s “state and national interests cannot be traded for visa liberalisation,” according to Kakha Kaladze, the ruling party’s secretary general and mayor of the capital city, Tbilisi.
Kaladze was responding to concerns that the European Commission would suspend its visa liberalisation act with Georgia, citing “serious breaches of fundamental rights and freedoms by Georgia.” The statement follows weeks of threats from Brussels to end visa-free travel, including a largely symbolic ban on diplomatic visas.
A mid-July letter from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs called out Georgian inaction over previous correspondence in January 2025. Kaladze’s response indicates that the ruling party views Brussels’ exhortations as an unwelcome intrusion into Tbilisi’s domestic politics by “European bureaucrats” making “slanderous statements:”
It is as if they do not sleep day and night thinking about the Georgian people and Georgia. This is an absolutely fake attitude.
Kaladze’s party is facing EU criticism for introducing a “foreign agents law” aimed at bringing transparency to NGOs and civil society groups—even though many EU countries have similar legislation. Since Georgia was granted EU candidate status in 2023, Brussels has kept up the pressure on Tbilisi, with only Hungary and Slovakia defending its right to act independently.
