The Czech government has called on Germany to review its strict entry rules, which resulted in long queues at the border this week.
According to DPA, this was stated by Czech Foreign Minister Tomasz Petrzycek after a video meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and Slovakia.
“I have again asked my colleague Heiko Maas to review Germany’s strict rules, in particular for people who commute to work and transport drivers,” he said.
According to him, Heiko Maas replied that the easing of restrictions will depend on the improvement of the epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic – which now looks like a distant prospect.
“Unfortunately, in the near future we do not expect any radical changes,” said Tomas Peter.
Germany has identified the Czech Republic and the Austrian Tyrol as areas of particular risk for the spread of new strains of coronavirus and tightened entry rules. Carriers who enter the country from the Czech Republic must now show a negative coronavirus test at the border, made no more than 48 hours ago.
The Czech Republic, in turn, began to control the entry of trucks from Slovakia, which go further in transit, in order to prevent the accumulation of transport on the German border.
For the same reason, at the beginning of the week, there were many kilometers of queues of trucks at the border from Italy to Austria.
The European Commission called on countries not to resort to excessive restrictions and to act in accordance with the agreed recommendations.