EU states hold off on visa waiver for Georgia; Turkey should also expect same
Fri Jun 03, 2016 03:36:pm World
2.5K By Buchi Obichie
According to Reuters reportage, European Union delegation sources disclosed that EU states held off agreeing to ease travel rules for Georgia on Wednesday; and Turkey, Ukraine and Kosovo should also expect more delays in visa waiving, as the bloc turns more cautious amid immigration fears.
The EU is already making it easier to suspend visa-free travel before it grants such right to more states, most notably Turkey, whose help it needs to control immigration after some 1.3 million people reached Europe last year.
The EU says while Turkey is making progress on 72 criteria to win the visa waiver, it is expected that it would miss the deadline at the end of June.
A similar deal for Georgia was discussed by EU envoys in Brussels on Wednesday, but there was no decision; with Germany and France among countries opposed to the proposed deal.
"We don't want to stop the whole process. We just want to be more cautious," stated a diplomat from one of the EU states which opposed granting visa-free travel to Georgia, Reuters reports.
They may return to the issue next week, before holding their first discussion on the more controversial case of Ukraine. While the lawmakers have started work on Ukraine and Georgia, the head of the EU parliament said they would open the Turkey file only after Ankara met all the benchmarks.
The EU is already making it easier to suspend visa-free travel before it grants such right to more states, most notably Turkey, whose help it needs to control immigration after some 1.3 million people reached Europe last year.
The EU says while Turkey is making progress on 72 criteria to win the visa waiver, it is expected that it would miss the deadline at the end of June.
A similar deal for Georgia was discussed by EU envoys in Brussels on Wednesday, but there was no decision; with Germany and France among countries opposed to the proposed deal.
"We don't want to stop the whole process. We just want to be more cautious," stated a diplomat from one of the EU states which opposed granting visa-free travel to Georgia, Reuters reports.
They may return to the issue next week, before holding their first discussion on the more controversial case of Ukraine. While the lawmakers have started work on Ukraine and Georgia, the head of the EU parliament said they would open the Turkey file only after Ankara met all the benchmarks.
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