Germany Advises Poland and Czech Republic to Reopen Borders
The Foreign Minister of Germany Heiko Maas has urged Poland and the Czech Republic to reopen their borders completely so the free flow of people and goods could be resumed.
Germany’s Minister comment came after Europe is being reopened after weeks of entry bans and travel restrictions that have been imposed from a large share of countries as an effort to stop the further spread of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19),
The European Union has supported the idea of reopening the Schengen zone but suggests that Europe’s external borders remain closed at least until mid-June in a bid to stop a deadly resurgence of the infection.
“We’ll stop border controls for Denmark in the next few days, and from June 15 there will be no more checks at the borders with France, Austria and Switzerland,” the Minister added after meeting his Luxembourg counterpart Jean Asselborn.
He said that he is hoping “that the border controls that the Polish and Czech friends currently do will also be lifted in the foreseeable future.”
Last week, Poland’s Minister of Interior and Administration Mariusz Kaminski announced that it has decided to prolong border controls with Germany, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, until June 12, due to Coronavirus developments.
Amid Coronavirus outbreak, Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis has declared that there are currently no negotiations with Germany to lift travel restrictions because the Coronavirus situation there “is not as stable in Germany as in its other neighbours.”
As per Germany, last week, after several discussions with the neighbouring countries and the federal states concerned, the Federal Minister of the Interior Horst Seehofer decided to gradually start easing the measures imposed at the borders amid the Coronavirus outbreak, in March and later on this year.
The Minister had decided to extend the border controls with France, Austria and Switzerland, set to expire on May 15, until June 15, 2020.
