Euroregion Elbe Labe (Czechia - Germany)

• Author: Viaggi, Raffaele; Rubio, Jean; Peyrony, Jean
• Pages: 6-8

 ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF BORDER-RELATED MEASURE S TAKEN BY MS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

 CASE STUDIES

6

Euroregion Elbe Labe (Czechia - Germany)

Border controls and

cross-border mobility

(Reduced crossings points,

type of controls, conges-

tion, CB public transport…)

The Czech government was the first one to close its borders. This

closure initially affected everyone: no exceptions were made.

Only Czech people who had to enter their country were al-

lowed in, and they had to quarantine after having entered the

country.

The German authorities pressured the Czech government to

make exceptions for CB workers as the German health system is

particularly dependent on CB workers coming from Czech Repub-

lic. Therefore, exceptions for people carrying out relevant

jobs were introduced. Border controls were first based on ran-

dom samples of temperature checks at the border and carried out

only by Czech police as Germany did not introduce border con-

trols, which brought to the decision to only open 4 crossing

points. CB workers had to drive long detours to cross the border,

so more crossing points were opened later for CB workers only.

Public transport was completely suspended while the border

was closed: busses and trains, and both local services and long

distances ones. Goods and log istic continued to be transported

across the border.

CB coordination and dia-

logue during the crisis

and the de-containment

phase

(Evolution in bord er con-

trols and effects of the lift-

ing of border controls)

At a later stage, Czechia also allowed business trips as good rea-

sons to cross borders, on condition of testing negatively to corona

virus, thus also allowing CB workers in non-relevant jobs to enter.

Tests needed to be repeated every 30 days. Many Saxon com-

panies took over the costs of the tests for their Czech em-

ployees. Some initiatives were taken also at the regional level to

support companies. At the beginning of June, borders reopened

unexpectedly before the previously scheduled date (June

15th).

There was an intense exchange between the Saxon and the Czech

governments but there was little knowledge of the impact of the

measures on border regions. Regional and local institutions were

not consulted, nor were municipalities, and were not made part

of the decisions.