EU marks 25 years of open-border pact amid closure
The European Union on Thursday marked 25 years of its open-border Schengen agreement amid closure of borders in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, European states decided to temporarily reintroduce controls at borders with other Schengen countries over the past few weeks. Only Italy, Slovakia, Latvia, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malta and Greece haven't introduced any restrictions related to their Schengen borders, according to the European Commission's registry. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen called these restrictions “a nonsense” in her speech given at the European Parliament on Thursday. “Crisis can't be resolved by putting barriers,” she said pointing out that “free movement of goods and asset is the only chance to avoid shortages.”