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NEWS
GEORGIA TODAY
FEBRUARY 3 - 6, 2017
European Parliament Backs Georgia’s Visa Liberalization BY THEA MORRISON
T
he European Parliament (EP) voted in favor of visafree travel for Georgian citizens to the Schengen Area at a plenary session at noon on Thursday. This was the final vote on the Georgia issue, after which only technical procedures remain. 553 MEPs supported Georgia’s visaliberalization during the vote, while 66 were against and 28 abstained. The voting process was preceded by debates between the MEPs. The European Parliament and the Council of Europe reached a political agreement over Georgia’s visa liberalization with the European Union (EU) in December, 2016. On December 20, the EU Council Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Governments of Member States to the EU (Coreper) approved the amendments to the text of Georgia’s visa liberalization. After that, the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) supported the amendments to the text of Georgia’s visa liberalization, a move which took place on January 12. Now, as Georgia’s visa liberalization is approved by the European Parliament, the amended regulations will be formally approved by the EU Council at the ministerial level. European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Minister, Viktor Dolidze, believes that Georgians will be able to enjoy visafree travel with the European Union in late March or early April. Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Mikheil Janelidze commented on the issue, say-
Freedom House Report 2017: Georgia Remains among Partly Free Countries BY THEA MORRISON
U ing the step of the EP underlines that the EU strongly supports Georgia. “We congratulate our citizens on this day. Our progress towards integration with the EU could not have been achieved if we hadn’t had firm support from our population and state agencies,” the Minister said, underlining that the positive result was the outcome of the government’s hard work and efforts. Janelidze added that the Georgian government will also offer the benefits of visa liberalization to the residents of Georgia’s occupied regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The visa-free regime between Georgia and the EU will go into force as soon as the suspension mechanism is activated. When the process is complete, biometric passport holders will be able to enter the Schengen area, which includes 22 EU member states (excluding Ireland, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria) in addition to Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, for 90 days within any 180-day period for a holiday, business or any other purpose, except work.
nited States-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Freedom House has released its annual report ‘Freedom in the World 2017,’ which says that Georgia remained among the partly free countries in 2016. Freedom in the World 2017 evaluates the state of freedom in 195 countries and 14 territories during the calendar year 2016. Each country and territory is assigned between 0 and 4 points on a series of 25 indicators for an aggregate score of up to 100. These scores are used to determine two numerical ratings, for political rights and civil liberties, with a rating of 1 representing the freest conditions and 7 the least free. A country or territory’s political rights and civil liberties’ ratings then determine whether it has an overall status of Free, Partly Free, or Not Free. This year Georgia got 64 aggregate points out of 100, which means that the country is “partly free”. However, according to the scores of its neighboring countries- Russia (20 points), Azerbaijan (14), Armenia (45), Turkey (38), Georgia is in the leading position in the region. Georgia is described as “partly free” according to its media freedom and as “free” according to internet freedom. As for political and civil freedoms, the country got 3 out of 7 points.
Protesters shouting nationalist and anti-immigrant slogans disrupt a tribute in Brussels, Belgium to victims of terrorist attacks. March 2016. Source: Freedom House
The report shows that the number of countries designated as Free stands at 87, representing 45 percent of the world’s 195 polities and approximately 2.9 billion people- or 39 percent of the global population. The number of Free countries increased by one from the previous year’s report. The number of countries qualifying as Partly Free stood at 59, or 30 percent of all countries assessed, home to nearly 1.9 billion people, or 25 percent of the world’s total. The number of Partly Free countries stayed the same as the previous year. 49 countries out of 195 were diagnosed as Not Free, and, among them, 11 countries have the worst aggregate scores for political rights and civil liberties.
These countries and scores are: Syria (1), Eritrea (3), North Korea (3), Uzbekistan (3), South Sudan (4), Turkmenistan (4), Somalia (5), Sudan (6), Equatorial Guinea (8), Central African Republic (10) and Saudi Arabia (10). Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world. The NGO analyzes the challenges to freedom, advocates for greater political rights and civil liberties, and supports frontline activists to defend human rights and promote democratic change. Founded in 1941, Freedom House was the first American organization to champion the advancement of freedom globally.
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