Hungary and Slovenia to reopen borders on June 1: Hungarian Foreign Minister

Hungary and Slovenia are working on a road map towards reopening of their borders after coronavirus pandemic forced European nations to seal internal borders to avoid spread. As per Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto post on his Facebook, these borders are scheduled to reopen by June 1. 

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Hungary has started easing coronavirus measures from Monday onwards. The citizens are urged to wear masks while visiting shops and travelling in public transport. 

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Foreign Minister Szijjarto wrote: "Restarting our economies is not possible without restarting international cooperation. Therefore, without jeopardising the protection of health, which is a priority, an easing of restrictive measures imposed at the borders is needed."

The two European Union member states share an annual trade of more than 2.5 billion euros. 

According to a Reuters survey, A phased reopening is the government's strategy to head off deeper and more lasting harm to the economy, which is expected to shrink by about 4 per cent this year.

Hungary has reported 3,535 cases of the novel coronavirus, this includes 462 deaths and 1,400 recoveries, whereas, Slovenia has reported 1,466 cases and 104 deaths. 

According to Szijjarto, both countries imposed lockdown to curb coronavirus spread and have allowed a gradual restart of economic activity.

"Taking all this into account, we have started working on a gradual phase-out of measures restricting border crossings, setting June 1 as a target date," Szijjarto wrote.