Interior Minister: EU mulls reopening internal borders in mid-May

With the coronavirus pandemic waning, the European Union (EU) is mulling a possibility to reopen internal borders in mid-May, Lithuania’s Interior Minister Rita Tamasuniene has said.

“We are holding discussions in the European Commission, also, there was a meeting of the Council of Ministers, we are discussing that May 15 might be a certain, let’s say, maximum term for the reopening of Europe’s internal borders,” she told the public radio on Tuesday.

However, it would be left for the member states to decide on potential sanitary checks at their borders.

Restrictions in force at the external borders with Belarus and Russia would remain in place at least until June, the minister said.

Lithuania restricted entry into and exit from the country shortly after the introduction of a nationwide lockdown in mid-March. However, on Monday the government lifted exit restrictions for Lithuania’s nationals.