Austria to continue border checks with Czechia, says interior minister

Austria will continue border checks with Czechia, but controls have now been moved further into border areas and are no longer causing major disruption for tourists or cross-border commuters, Czech Interior Minister Lubomír Metnar said after talks with his Austrian counterpart Gerhard Karner on Friday.

Austria introduced checks on its border with Czechia in October 2023 in an effort to curb illegal migration. Although Austrian media speculated late last year that the controls could end, Vienna later extended them for another six months and announced a broader border security strategy covering the wider frontier region.

Several other European Union countries, including Germany, have also maintained internal border checks in response to illegal migration. Germany has controlled its borders with all neighbouring countries, including Czechia, since October 2023.