Czechs to end controls on Slovak border on Feb. 2

The Czech Republic will on Friday end temporary controls on its border with Slovakia designed to curb illegal migration, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday. The Czech Republic, along with Germany, Poland and Austria, introduced the controls in September and October as the number of migrants crossing into richer western European countries grew.

Slovakia experienced a several-fold increase in illegal migration in 2023 as mostly young men from the Middle East and Afghanistan passed through after entering the European Union via Hungary and heading west, mostly to Germany.