Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia will not close their borders to each other

Shutting down borders between Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia would not be desirable, concurred the three heads of Parliaments of the respective countries. House Chair Boris Kollár (We Are Family), Radek Vondráček and Wolfgang Sobotka, Kollár's Czech and Austrian counterparts met in the Austerlitz format at the Grafenegg Castle on Sunday. Kollár noted that at the same time, the three countries had introduced similar measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. In his view, the solution lies in meticulous compliance with hygienic measures and not the stifling of the economy. The head of the Austrian parliament, Wolfgang Sobotka, thinks that all European countries must march in lockstep and coordinate their responses closely in the fight against the outbreak. "We don't view the closing of borders as a good idea. We're glad we have Schengen and the borders within it should remain open. We should shut them down only in case of extremely serious threat and danger and that's not the case at the moment," he said.