Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that the decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine was being overrated. The Dutch government has decided to lift its veto on Bulgaria joining the Schengen area. The EU is supporting an Albanian awareness campaign aimed at informing travellers about the rules for transporting money in and out of the country.
A number of countries including Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia have announced new controls along their borders. They are trying to prevent people smugglers from using routes through the Balkans to bring migrants to Central and Western Europe. This puts pressure on the Schengen area of free movement and visa-free arrangements with third countries.
The EU member states issued a joint statement on respect for the rights of all citizens in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner offered the UK a closer economic relationship with the EU. Slovak diplomat Ivan Korčok continues to collect signatures for his presidential candidacy.
The German government has suspended an agreement with Italy to voluntarily take in refugees due to Italy’s refusal to respect the Dublin rules. In other news: Slovenia and Luxembourg pledge for equal treatment of all EU candidates and the preservation of Schengen. Slovak and Hungarian police are combating illegal migration together.
According to consultancy McKinsey, the European car industry has lost around 5 percentage points of market share in the Chinese car market since 2019. In other news: The European Court of Human Rights found that the current political system in Bosnia and Herzegovina prioritizes ethnic representation. As a result, elections are undemocratic. Bulgaria stressed its ambitions concerning its Schengen membership during the Strategic Forum.