Free movement between the Czech Republic and Slovakia to resume from June 4

From midnight tonight, travel between the Czech Republic and Slovakia will return to normal

Jason Pirodsky

Written by Jason Pirodsky Published on 03.06.2020 12:15:25 (updated on 03.06.2020) Reading time: 2 minutes

Daily News
Flags of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
Flags of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

From midnight tonight, borders between the Czech Republic and Slovakia will fully reopen. Movement of people between the two countries will resume as it was before the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions came into effect in mid-March.

The news was announced by both Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič in advance of a meeting between the two in Prague this afternoon. It will be Matovič’s first official meeting in Prague, or any foreign location, since taking office in March.

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Babiš and Matovič said they agreed on the full re-opening of borders two days ago, but kept it secret in order to announce it during Matovič’s visit to Prague.

A press conference with full details will take place this afternoon.

Slovakia had previously closed its border to all foreign non-residents from March 12.

As of May 26, however, travel has been permitted between the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but only for 48 hours. Stays of a longer duration had still required a negative test for COVID-19, and random checks were being conducted at border crossings.

In April, Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček estimated that borders between the Czech Republic and Slovakia might fully reopen in July; last month, Babiš said that Czech borders with Slovakia could fully reopen on June 8 or 15.

Tomorrow’s date of June 4 is likely a results of positive developments regarding the daily number of new coronavirus cases in both countries.

Today’s announcement means that travel between the two countries will go back to ‘normal’, as it was before the epidemic; it’s one of the first such announcements between neighboring countries in the European Union.

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Other European countries are eyeing a date of June 15 for opening borders to travelers.

On Monday, the Czech Republic announced that return travel without the need for a negative COVID-19 test would be allowed from June 15 from a large number of “safe” and “medium risk” countries in Europe, while travel from “high-risk” countries including Sweden and the UK would still require a test.

Each destination country may have its own specific regulations, but many are in negotiations to open borders to general traffic with European neighbors from mid-June.

 

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