00:00The EU is escalating its compelling approach with the Georgian government.
00:09The European Commission will send a letter to the executive in Tbilisi
00:13threatening to suspend the visa liberalization regime by August 31.
00:18The union is demanding that Georgia curbs what the EU institutions call
00:22the backsliding of democratic principles.
00:24This potential restriction was announced this Tuesday at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
00:31So far we have kept this position that we don't want to hurt Georgian people
00:37and taking away the visa-free regime is really having an impact on them.
00:44But at the same time it's also an issue of credibility of the European Union.
00:49According to Georgian Dream, the current ruling party, the EU seeks to influence
00:55and scare the Georgian public opinion in view of the municipal election scheduled for next October.
01:01The potential visa suspension measures divided the EU foreign ministers.
01:24Some of them are afraid that it could backfire against the EU since 80% of the Georgian public opinion is pro-European.
01:33We think that restrictions should be put on those who are responsible for repression and not on the people of Georgia.
01:43Last autumn's elections sparked a wave of more than six months of anti-government protests in Georgia.
01:49The EU is highly concerned by the wave of detentions carried out by the Georgian authorities against journalists and some members of the opposition.
01:59At least seven opposition figures were arrested by the authorities in recent months.
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