This joint statement comes after the ruling Georgian Dream party won the election last week, but the opposition said that there was an electoral fraud.
The joint statement document was signed by the Members of Parliament from Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the EU Parliament.
In the document, the lawmakers said that the EU Commission and Council should reexamine the visa liberalisation regime with Georgia and should not exclude the possibility of fully suspending this agreement.
The suspension of the visa-free travel regime would have a negative impact on all passport holders of Moldova. If the EU decides to move on with such a decision, all citizens of Moldova will need to obtain a visa in order to be permitted entry into the bloc.
MPs Said Sanctions on Officials & Political Leaders Are a Must
As Yle News explains, observers have said they have evidence that a sophisticated and large-scale electoral fraud scheme has taken place in Georgia to alter the result in the favour of the Georgian Dream party.
Taking this into account, MPs called on the EU to impose sanctions on Georgian officials as well as political leaders who are responsible for violations of the electoral process.
The MPs further said that Bidzina Ivanishvili, who is the founder of the Georgian Dream party and a vocal critic of the West, should also be sanctioned.
In addition to the above-mentioned, the document also calls on the EU to freeze the assets of all those who have been involved in the fraud and who are engaged in assistance and cooperation projects that are not in favour of Georgian citizens.
