On December 5, 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Caspar Veldkamp, announced his intention to ask the EU to suspend visa-free travel with Georgia in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Veldkamp stated that “The violence against protesters and journalists, and the arrest of politicians in Georgia is unacceptable” and that the Netherlands would call on the EU to suspend all current agreements with Georgia for visa-free travel to and from the country.
He went on to praise the Baltic states for imposing individual entry bans on Georgia and confirmed that he would raise the matter at a two-day meeting of The Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCE) in Malta.
These statements from the Netherlands’ Minister of Foreign Affairs are in response to mounting protests and arrests in Georgia after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced that EU membership talks would be suspended until 2028.