Questioning visa liberalization over “Family Values” and “Transparency” laws is unfair. Such a comment Chairman of the European Integration Committee of Georgia’s Parliament made while talking about an article by RFERL journalist Rickard Jozwiak, which claims that Brussels is demanding the repeal of the Transparency of Foreign Influence and Family Values and Protection of Minors laws, threatening to suspend visa liberalization in response. 

According to Levan Makhashvili, as municipal elections were coming close, there was growing manipulation of the visa liberalization issue.

“Georgia obtained visa liberalization after fully implementing a number of reforms and strictly upholding EU security standards. Questioning this issue, including because of the family values law or the transparency law, is entirely baseless and unfair. This is about presenting the public with a false dilemma.

There would be multiple attempts to put pressure on the Georgian people and influence their free will… If there is any lever or resource available, Brussels’ bureaucracy will use it. That is why it is crucial for citizens to be active and send a very clear message that they support the Government of Georgia. We believe that a decisive choice by the Georgian people will also be an important signal to anyone seeking to pressure Georgia or its Government”, - said Levan Makhashvili.