Georgian FM claims opposition lobbying EU to suspend visa-free travel

Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili has claimed that members of the opposition were actively lobbying European officials in Brussels to suspend Georgia’s visa-free travel with the EU, in a move she said was aimed at destabilising the country ahead of elections.

Speaking before a parliamentary investigative commission, Botchorishvili warned that visa liberalisation - “a milestone achieved under the Georgian Dream government” - has now become a political weapon in the hands of those “seeking to overthrow the government.”

“They may think of visa-free travel as a tool in reserve,” she said. “Opposition politicians like Tina Bokuchava have openly stated that they expect its suspension. This is no longer about punishing the Georgian Dream - it’s about punishing every Georgian citizen.”

Botchorishvili accused figures such as Salome Samadashvili, Giorgi Vashadze, and Zurab Girchi Japaridze of holding meetings in Brussels to push for measures that, in her words, were “not aimed at harming the government, but at harming Georgia’s national interests.”

She also pointed to last year’s Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, where, according to her, opposition MPs refused to support a resolution backing Georgia’s European future. This, she argued, was another example of how political rivalries were undermining the country’s EU aspirations.

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