Central Europe seeks ‘mini-Schengen’

PRAGUE: Central European countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia could open their borders to each other as of mid-June, officials said after holding two video-conferences on Tuesday.

Germany has a relatively low fatality rate from the novel coronavirus which has closed borders across the continent, while the other four countries are among the EU´s champions in battling its spread.

"We think we could create a mini-Schengen allowing people to travel without border checks, tests or subsequent quarantine in mid-June," Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said after talking to his Austrian and Slovak counterparts.

Austria and Germany have already announced they would open their border to each other on June 15.

"If they do that..., it would be nice to open the borders with Germany, Austria, Hungary and hopefully also Slovakia on June 15," said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.

Babis met his counterparts from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video.