Speaker of the Georgian Parliament said that visa liberalisation had always been based on specific criteria that Georgia had fulfilled and continued to fulfil, adding that new political conditions have recently been introduced, including "demands for Georgia to allow undisclosed EU funding".

He was asked about a dialogue in Brussels between the Georgian Dream and the European Commission regarding the possible suspension of visa-free travel.

"Georgian Dream will not be represented there as a party. The delegation was formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and includes representatives of various state agencies. This is a technical meeting, not a political discussion. Visa liberalisation had and continues to have specific conditions, which Georgia has always fulfilled and continues to fulfil. Unfortunately, in recent times we have seen political conditions being invented, such as dictating which laws Georgia should adopt and which it should not.

No one can explain how this is connected to visa liberalisation. For example, Georgia is being told that it must allow undisclosed European Union funding in the country.

We are being asked to limit our sovereignty for the sake of what is called visa liberalisation and to allow the covert financing of radical political groups. Sovereignty is not exchanged for strawberries. When you are told that you should not insist on asking Brussels to disclose its funding in order to retain visa liberalisation, that amounts to surrendering sovereignty in exchange for a strawberry", - said Shalva Papuashvili.