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Following the relaxation of the crown measures, the call to open borders is also increasing. Chancellor Merkel can also imagine that. However, it does so depending on conditions, such as cooperation with neighbors. And warns of illusions.
Chancellor Angela Merkel gave hope in the coronavirus crisis that borders with neighboring countries would be gradually opened. Changes to border controls must always be made in cooperation with neighbors, the CDU politician said, according to information from the participants’ German press agency, in a video session of the Union faction in the Bundestag. There will often be a two-step process. It is important to her that the checks do not continue “until the end of the day,” Merkel said.
At the same time, however, he warned against illusions in the debate, as the participants reported. Merkel emphasized that they wanted to move towards normalization in the Schengen area, if the infection situation allowed it. But France will certainly not open its borders until mid-June, he added, participants said. French President Emmanuel Macron said this in a phone call on Monday. France will not relinquish border controls in any of its neighboring countries on May 15.
But there are several opportunities for help, said the chancellor. The same applies to Austria and Switzerland. There have never been border controls with the Netherlands and Belgium, and this will continue to be the case. The issue will be discussed in the cabinet on Wednesday, Merkel said. CSU federal interior minister Horst Seehofer wants to comment on the matter by Friday. Then the current German border controls expire.
Laschet wants to relax the quarantine requirement
Poland and the Czech Republic had introduced border controls on their own, Merkel said. In Denmark and Luxembourg, there could probably be a further step in consultation with the Prime Ministers and the Danish government. Merkel was not more specific here. It is also important that action is not taken against the wishes of state prime ministers, but in close cooperation with them.
Recently there have been increasing demands to reopen borders as coronavirus measures relax. “With gradual relaxation in the area of public and economic life, border controls and border closures to our neighboring European countries can no longer be neglected,” said SPD Group internal policy spokeswoman Ute Vogt. In view of the hygiene and distance requirements on both sides of Europe’s internal borders, “we ask the Federal Minister for the Interior, Seehofer, to immediately enable small border traffic again.”
North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet of the CDU also pushed for further reduction of state requirements. It was declared in the “Rheinische Post” to relax the quarantine obligation for returnees from European countries. He justified the end of the confinement in France, where people have had more freedom since Monday. At the same time, he reiterated his call for the German borders to be opened quickly. Anyone entering Germany from abroad must be quarantined for two weeks. However, this obligation does not apply to people who enter with a special permit, such as those who travel daily.
CDU politician Norbert Röttgen, as Laschet’s candidate for the CDU presidency, recommended a look at neighboring countries: “There are still high rates of infection. If the Federal Government and the EU Commission continue to stop using it See I have no reason why we can afford more freedom of movement, “he told the” Passauer Neue Presse. ” On Monday, the CDU Presidium also spoke in favor of rapidly opening borders to neighboring countries, while maintaining security standards. Seehofer had recently stated that the federal government had agreed to continue the controls until May 15.
