Germany, Eastern Europe aim for gradual removal of border controls

Tue, May 19, 2020
By publisher
1 MIN READ

Foreign

THE leaders of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia on Tuesday agreed to gradually dismantle border checks put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus.

According to the spokesman to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Steffen Seibert, who participated in a video conference with its Eastern European counterparts from the Visegrad Group, no time frame was given for the easing of travel restrictions.

Seibert said Merkel held a bilateral call with Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, in which cooperation on re-opening the two neighbours’ border was also discussed.

Merkel and Babis also discussed joint projects, including developing the train line that connects the capitals of Berlin and Prague.

The chancellor is also said to have explained central aspects of a Franco-German proposal for a 500-billion-euro (or 545-billion-dollar) European recovery fund in response to the coronavirus crisis.

However, it was not initially known the response of other leaders about the idea.

NAN

– May 19, 2020 @ 15:50 GMT /

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