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Ukraine has requested to become a member of the EU, but the process is likely to take some time and it is unclear if there is a broad support to accept several new nations in the bloc.

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The European Union could be about to throw its support behind Ukraine becoming its newest member, but the process will not be easy: not only the country is still at war, but several other nations are keen to join and have been for some time.

Just days after Russia started its unprovoked invasion of the country, Ukraine sent a letter to the EU to formally start its application process.

Since then, several EU officials have come out in support of Ukraine joining the bloc, but they have also been clear this would be a long process, even if they try to speed things up given Ukraine's circumstances.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, is expected to issue an opinion on Ukraine joining the EU in the next few weeks but this will likely just mark the start of a long and difficult journey.

Even the European Parliament's President Roberta Metsola has admitted that accepting new members into the EU can be challenging.

"Enlargements are always complex you have different countries, different paths, different steps to take, different rules to abide by. But this is the moment we need to send the strongest of political message: Ukraine belongs in the European family," she told CNBC last month.

According to Daniel Gros, from the Brussels-based think tank CEPS, receiving political support to join the EU represents "a moral boost to Ukraine and a signal to Russia that the EU will not be deterred."

But for the EU, supporting Ukraine's membership bid is a delicate balancing act which affects many countires.

Nations in the Western Balkans have long been promised accession, for example including North Macedonia, which even changed its name in an effort to bolster its chances of joining the EU but negotiations have yet to begin.

Moldova, which borders Ukraine, and Georgia, which borders Russia, have also asked to join the bloc in the wake of the Russian invasion.

"Particularly against the background of the war in Ukraine, we have to remain vigilant and give the same priority to the Western Balkans as to Ukraine," Austrian ministers Alexander Schallenberg and Karoline Edtstadler said in a letter to the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell late last month.

"We cannot allow ourselves to create first and second-class candidates."

Western Balkans is a term used to refer to six countries in southern and eastern Europe: the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, the Republic of Kosovo, the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Serbia.

The risk for the EU is that it is seen to be giving preferential treatment to Kyiv upsetting other parts of the continent and potentially pushing them closer to Russia.

"We want and need those countries firmly anchored in our camp, the one of the European model of life, we need to demonstrate to them that they are key partners and that we are serious about their European future," the Austrian ministers said in the letter.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC Tuesday.

Even after it publishes its opinion on Ukraine joining the bloc, it will likely be years before member states are given the opportunity to approve Kyiv's accession, to a large extent because Ukraine will have to implement several economic and political reforms to comply with European rules.

However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been vocal about Ukraine belonging in the EU. Last month, she advocated for financial aid for reconstruction as a way to also help Ukraine's accession to the bloc.

"It could set a system of milestones and targets to make sure that European money truly delivers for the people of Ukraine, and is spent in accordance with EU rules. It could help fight corruption, align the legal environment with European standards and radically upgrade Ukraine's productive capacity," she said in the European Parliament, adding that "eventually, it will pave the way for Ukraine's future inside the European Union."

But political experts think full membership for Ukraine is some way off.

"While Ukraine joining the EU anytime soon is unlikely, there is a clear shift in attitudes towards enlargement amongst EU leaders who have realized that keeping countries that want to become members on hold is very frustrating and opens the door to democratic backsliding and non-EU influence from Russia, from China," Anna Rosenberg, partner at advisory firm Signum Global, said via email.

"So, yes, EU leaders are now somewhat more open to enlargement than before the war, but it nevertheless remains very difficult problems with countries like Hungary are evidence for that. No EU leaders wants to allow a second Hungary into the bloc," she added.

Hungary, which joined the EU in 2004, has long been a thorn in the side of Europe's institutions.

This is most recently evident in the decision to impose an oil embargo on Russia. The European Commission made the proposal back in early May, but Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban led a coalition of a handful of countries in negotiating carve-outs. This dragged the process out for much longer than initially expected.

"The EU with 27 is often ungovernable and it is in my opinion hard to see new members being admitted to the club without Treaty revisions of the kind that [French President Emmanuel] Macron proposed, more qualified majority voting and more fiscal integration," Jacob Kirkegaard, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said via email.

Currently and as demonstrated by the recent impasse over the Russian oil embargo key foreign policy decisions require unanimity.

This is already at times difficult, given that the EU is made up of 27 countries with often entirely different domestic priorities. And it could become even harder if the group is expanded.

Yet another complication is the fact that there is currently no clarity as to when Russia's war in Ukraine will end.

"A prerequisite for a meaningful accession process is not just that Ukraine wins the war in the sense that they need control over their own territory, but that an actual peace agreement is signed with Russia," Kirkegaard said, adding that "a frozen conflict situation will not give Ukraine EU membership."

"Question of course is how to achieve that, given that in a sense Moscow does have a veto over Ukraine's possible EU accession - no peace deal, no EU membership in the end."

Correction: A quote taken from a letter sent by Austrian ministers Alexander Schallenberg and Karoline Edtstadler has been updated to correct a spelling mistake.

Read more here:
Ukraine wants to join the European Union. But it is not going to be easy - CNBC

In February 2015, as Russia-backed separatists waged war in eastern Ukraine, America seemed eager for a fight.

Then-vice president Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to call for new peace plans as his troops roll through the Ukrainian countryside and he absolutely ignores every agreement that his country has signed in the past.

Former US Air Force general Philip Breedlove, then NATOs top commander, told journalists that military support for Ukraine should be part of the package of Western pressure on Russia. There is a large tool bag that we can use, he said.

But among Europes major powers, the tone was different.

At that months annual security conference in Munich, Germanys then-defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, expressed Berlins view that military support was counterproductive. As The New York Times paraphrased her comments at the time, Germany sees Ukraine and Russia as a chance to prove that in the 21st century, developed nations should solve disputes at the negotiating table, not with weapons. Russia, she noted, could match any Western help with an almost infinite supply of weapons it could send in to Ukraine.

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That was the view of the Merkel government, of Francois Hollandes France, of much of Europe.

No longer.

A Ukrainian tank drives in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, June 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

For the first time in history, the EU is financing deliveries of weapons we have so far allocated two billion euros to cover the needs of the Ukrainian defense forces, von der Leyen, now president of the European Commission, the EUs executive branch, told The Times of Israel in an interview by email ahead of her visit to Israel, which begins Monday.

The visit is about many things, some of them standard fare for such trips. Von der Leyen will be meeting Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, tour the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, and so on.

But the heart of the trip is, ultimately, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the profound reorientation sparked by that aggression, including Europes sudden need to expand its defense capabilities, energy supply and food security.

The change in tone and outlook that has come over von der Leyen since Putins February invasion is, like her, representative of Europe as a whole.

Von der Leyens biography is an almost risibly impressive apotheosis of the European idea. The descendant of German Hanoverian aristocracy, a physician who raises horses on the family farm, a mother of seven children born within a 13-year span, von der Leyen is almost literally the product of unified Europe. She was born in 1958 in Belgium rather than Germany, as her father began serving that year as the top aide to the first European commissioner for competition, one of the very first civil servants of the new European institutions. She is thus as fluent in French as in German. Her political career began when she won a state parliamentary seat in Lower Saxony in 2003. Two years later she was already a member of the German federal cabinet. From 2013 to 2019, she served as Germanys defense minister, the first woman to hold the position. She was elected president of the European Commission, the European Unions top executive post, in 2019 once again the first woman in the job.

She is, both personally and professionally, Europe incarnate. And she sounds like it. She has called for a federalized united states of Europeand has expressed the hope that a pan-European armywill one day be established. Her support for a stronger and more integrated European defense didnt begin with Putins latest war.

Ahead of her visit to Israel, von der Leyen spoke with The Times of Israel in an email exchange about where Europe stands nearly four months into the Russian invasion. Her tone is uncompromising: Our sanctions aim to drain the Kremlins resources We will keep the pressure on for as long as it takes. And her commitment to a more powerful Europe is explicit: Europe needs to reinforce its ability to deal with security threats and to protect its citizens and interests.

Part of that European pivot is expressing itself in an intensification of its relationship with Israel.

Defense ties have been flourishing in recent months. At the Eurosatory defense show in Paris that opens Monday, as many as 56 Israeli companies are expected to show their wares. With European defense agencies looking to spend as much as 200 billion euros ($210 billion) to quickly upgrade their defense capabilities against further Russian expansionism, many have turned to Israel for solutions.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, drones, precision targeting, smart coordinating systems for ground forces, firearm scopes, and more unusual technologies such as radars carried by infantry that can see through walls, Israel is at the cutting edge.

But it isnt just Israeli technology that interests Europe. It is the Israeli sense of the world as still containing real hard-power dangers.

As one European official from Finland recently confided to this writer, The Finns are the Israelis of Europe. Our next-door neighbors, the Swedes, havent fought a war in 400 years. But we remember the Winter War [the 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland]. We were the last European country to sign the Ottawa Treaty against landmines, and many of us are unhappy that we did that.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin (L) and President Sauli Niinist give a press conference to announce that Finland will apply for NATO membership at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, May 15, 2022. (Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP)

Finland was indeed a lone outlier on the landmine convention, and with good reason: its nigh-indefensible 800-mile border with Russia. Other European nations signed the treaty in 1997-99. Finland only acquiesced in 2011. Since Putins invasion, mainstream Finnish leaders have begun calling for leaving the treaty.

For many Europeans, then, Israel has become a symbol of a very different Western vision of what it means to defend oneself in an increasingly dangerous world.

But the relationship with Israel goes beyond defense. A three-way Israel-Egypt-EU gas deal is being negotiated that will play a role in Europes larger goal of energy independence from Russia. (In a statement announcing the visit, von der Leyens office said its purpose was to take EU-Israeli relations forward, in particular on energy cooperation. She is set to meet Energy Minister Karine Elharrar on Monday evening.)

Culturally and economically, too, Israel is a Western-oriented, economically developed, scientifically advanced and politically stable (relatively speaking) nation lying scarcely 200 kilometers from EU member state Cyprus. That alone has driven major efforts at collaboration between the EU and the Jewish state.

It is hard to exaggerate the scale of Israel-Europe cooperation. Few Israelis realize that their countrys vaunted advances in desalination, which over the past decade have essentially solved what was once an increasingly dire water crisis, were heavily financed by the EUs European Investment Bank since as early as 2007. When the point was raised by The Times of Israel in the exchange with von der Leyen, her response was instructive: Israel has helped Europe in return, as when it cooperated closely on helping the EU improve its COVID-19 vaccination program.

Her office has also said that the global response to the food crisis precipitated by the Russian invasion is on the agenda of her visit, highlighting the potential importance of Israeli agricultural know-how for resolving the food shortages sparked by the Russia-Ukraine war.

Israel has been a member of Europes vast flagship scientific research program, Horizon Europe, since December. (It was previously part of the EUs Horizon 2020 program.)

On Sunday, the day before von der Leyens visit, the Israeli cabinet officially announced its intention to join Creative Europe, the parallel to Horizon Europe in the realm of arts and culture.

The interview began with questions about Russia and European defense, moved on to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Iran nuclear deal and Israel-EU cooperation, and concluded with the growing fears expressed by Europes Jewish communities over rising antisemitism on the continent.

The Times of Israel: Whats the endgame of the sanctions? Whats Europes specific demand from Moscow?

Ursula von der Leyen:There is one clear demand not just by Europe, but by the wider international community: Russia must respect the UN Charter. This means stopping the violation of international law, ending the unprovoked aggression against the Ukrainian people and withdrawing the invading Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.

We imposed sanctions as a response to Russias blatant violations of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, and to the atrocities committed by the Kremlins troops on [the] Ukrainian people. Our sanctions aim to drain the Kremlins resources and their ability to finance their illegal and unjustifiable war.

We will keep the pressure on for as long as it takes.

The world was surprised at Chancellor Scholzs sudden announcement just two days after Russias invasion of the immediate addition of 100 billion euros to the military budget, and the subsequent defense commitments across Europe. Given your unique vantage point as a very recent German defense minister and current head of the commission, do you think this is a momentary shift or a long-term pivot? Are we witnessing the birth of a more assertive Europe in the hard-power sense? Is a European army possible? Is it a good idea?

The foundation of our collective defense is and will remain NATO.

But Russias invasion of Ukraine, as well as events elsewhere around us, are showing that Europe needs to reinforce its ability to deal with security threats and to protect its citizens and interests.

This is why, for the first time in history, the EU is financing deliveries of weapons we have so far allocated two billion euros to cover the needs of the Ukrainian defense forces. This is in addition to considerable military support that EU countries are providing bilaterally.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, left, speaks during a joint press conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, June 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

So indeed, significant defense investments will be needed in Europe in the future. And it is good news that many EU countries have started increasing their defense spending, with 200 billion euros [$210 billion] in extra military spending announced up to now.

And this money must be spent in a strategic, coordinated way. We are a Union of 27 countries and we need to avoid fragmentation of defense industrial and financial resources. This is why we are now organizing common procurement at the EU level. This notably will ensure interoperability between our European Armed Forces. It will strengthen our European defense industrial base in the long-term. And it will reinforce NATO as well.

On the peace process, the Palestinian side is divided, the government of Mahmoud Abbas is deeply unpopular, polls show Hamas winning the next election in the West Bank. Israeli politics have moved steadily rightward in recent years on the question of Palestinian statehood. Practically, is there a Palestinian partner for peace? Is Israel, in Europes view, capable of delivering a two-state solution?

What must be done to get from the current impasse to Europes preferred solution? Whats Europes role in getting there? And if two states are not forthcoming, what would a European peace policy look like in this region?

Only Israelis and Palestinians can agree, achieve and maintain a lasting peace.

The EU supports a two-state solution a secure Israel, living side by side in peace with a Palestinian state. This solution can fulfil the legitimate aspirations of both sides and bring peace and security to all.

We very much welcome all efforts towards peace and the Abraham Accords offer hope towards that goal. We are also ready to explore cooperation with Israel in this regard, including on a regional level in the context of the normalization agenda.

Continued outbreaks of violence, as we have witnessed in [recent] weeks, underline the need to address the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, restore a political horizon and open the path towards the relaunching of the peace process as soon as possible.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces during a protest in the village of Beit Dajan, near the West Bank city of Nablus, June 3, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Beyond Israels renewed engagement with the Palestinians on various levels and the governments measures on improving Palestinians lives, which we welcome, the region and its people need a real political and economic perspective and the EU is ready to help with that.

We owe it to todays Israelis and Palestinians, as well as to our children and grandchildren.

Not so long ago, Europeans called each other enemies. But we succeeded in bringing peace, stability and prosperity to the whole continent.

Others can achieve that too. Our advice is to keep trying, and not wait.

Do you think some form of the Iran deal can be resuscitated, and if not, whats Europes Iran policy going forward?

The Iran nuclear deal remains a major multilateral security achievement. This is widely recognized and endorsed by the UN Security Council. Without this deal, Iran could have developed nuclear weapons by now, adding another source of instability in the region.

It is therefore more important than ever to bring the JCPOA back on track. That is why the High Representative of the EU [the unions foreign minister, a position currently held by Josep Borrell], as the Coordinator of the deal, continues to engage in intense negotiations with parties of the deal and the US.

We believe that with a restored JCPOA, we can return to a more positive dynamic. An agreement is within reach and the negotiated text is basically ready. However, crucial political decisions are now urgently needed.

Economically and culturally, the Israeli-European relationship is already close and flourishing. The eurozone is our major trading zone. The European Investment Bank has been a major financier for Israeli desalination projects. Europe helped us solve our water crisis. Culturally, Israelis visit Europe, admire Europe and want to feel close to Europe. A simple question, then: How do you see the future of this relationship?

The European Union and Israel share a unique bond. Forged by history, built on our shared values and interests, and rooted in excellent cooperation on topics ranging from energy to health, from culture to research and innovation, to name just a few.

For example, our cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic was simply outstanding. Scientific data shared by Israel helped us make our vaccination campaigns in the EU more effective. And Im very happy that, since December, Israel is participating in Europes massive innovation program, Horizon Europe.

So my visit aims to build on this deep cooperation, to make our partnership even stronger. This is important and urgent in these bleak times, with many challenges affecting the region, and with Russias invasion of Ukraine sending shockwaves around the globe, particularly on food and energy security. We will discuss how to address these shockwaves, together as partners.

The Jewish communities of Europe are telling us they feel increasingly afraid. Synagogues have been under guard for years in many parts of Europe, and for good reason. The simultaneous rise of the far-right and of Islamist ideologies in some places in Europe have left Jews feeling in a vise. According to EU figures, 38% of Europes Jews have considered emigrating because of these concerns.

Last October, your commission announced an EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. You said at the time, We want to see Jewish life thriving again in the heart of our communities. Can you tell us about that? What specifically can European institutions do? Whats your message to Europes Jews?

Attacks against European Jews are attacks against our fundamental European values. They are attacks against Europe itself. We will never tolerate that. Rest assured that Jewish life has always been and will always be an integral part of our European life.

We have an EU law on racist hate speech and hate crimes, including the criminalization of Holocaust denial, trivialization and condoning.

Illustrative: Men wearing kippas are seen at the synagogue in Halle, eastern Germany, on October 10, 2019, one day after the antisemitic attack where two people were shot dead. (Ronny Hartmann/AFP)

And last year we adopted the first-ever EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life. It includes very practical measures, from fighting anti-Semitic propaganda online and offline to protecting Jewish communities and places of worship around Europe and fostering Jewish life.

I want to see Jewish life thriving in the heart of our communities. So, for example, it is essential that Europeans learn about Jewish life and Judaism, which are an essential part of our European culture. The Strategy puts a premium on teaching Jewish history to our children, and on promoting Jewish heritage in our cities. Because Jewish history is our history, Jewish culture is our culture.

See the article here:
EU president tells ToI: Well pressure Putin for as long as it takes - The Times of Israel

The European Union aims to make multiple chargers a thing of the past for the bloc. Kenzo Tribouillard /AFP via Getty Images hide caption

The European Union aims to make multiple chargers a thing of the past for the bloc.

Those in the European Union won't have to spend much more time rummaging around for a charger.

Cellphones and handheld electronic devices in the European Union will now be required to have a USB-C charging port, according to an agreement reached Tuesday by the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.

As of 2024, tablets, digital cameras, video game consoles, headphones, portable speakers, e-readers, portable navigation systems, keyboards, mice and earbuds will need to be equipped with the port.

Laptop manufacturers have until 2026 to implement the universal charging port in their products.

"No more bundles of different chargers in our drawers," Margrethe Vestager, executive vice president for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said in a statement.

"One common charger is a real benefit to us as consumers."

The EU hopes a universal charger will reduce carbon dioxide emissions and prevent waste, while also eliminating the costs of buying multiple chargers for different devices.

"The deal we struck this morning will bring around 250 million euros of savings to consumers annually," Thierry Breton, an EU commissioner for the bloc's Internal Market, said in a statement.

Chargers that were either unused or disposed contribute to roughly 11,000 tons of e-waste each year, according to the commission.

The universal charging requirement could impact major tech companies such as Apple, which has a unique "Lightning" connector for iPhones, iPads and other mobile products.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company has previously spoken against the move.

"We remain concerned that strict regulation mandating just one type of connector stifles innovation rather than encouraging it, which in turn will harm consumers in Europe and around the world," a company spokesperson said in a statement last September.

Continued here:
The EU will soon require all cellphones to have the same type of charging port - NPR

Iraq, Nineveh, 13 June 2022 - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture-Ninewa Agriculture Directorate, and through the European Union (EU) funded project support to agricultural livelihoods of rural and peri-urban returnees and communities in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq, held a four-day intensive training on improving manufacture and marketing of traditional dairy products. 75 dairy producers participated including 50 women from Zummar district, Telkaif district, and the city of Mosul.

This training provided an opportunity for the participants to learn about good practices for handling and processing dairy products with practical samples to make these products. During this training, the health aspects to process traditional dairy products were emphasized with the introduction of new techniques on how to process different types of cheese that the Iraqi consumer wants and which have been imported from neighboring countries and they can be manufactured locally. This aims to obtain healthy and safe dairy products and to promote simple ideas to produce distinctive products that can be competitive in the market. The women dairy producers also received training on the use of pasteurizer, how to follow the good milk hygiene standards and to ensure the hygiene of the device under the supervision of FAO Iraqs International Livestock Value Chain Expert, Dr. Chedly Kayouli.

Dr. Kayouli stressed during the training on the importance of examining milk before use to obtain the highest quality products. The female extension officers carried out the laboratory examination in the presence of all participants to consolidate the examination process through practical practice.

FAO is striving to establish a real partnership with the dairy producers and to empower them, which is a priority for the organization. This will help them to support their families income. It is necessary to activate the role of women milk producers in particular. These trainings seek to improve the capacity of the sector and to contribute to the national development in preserving local products and improving their quality, says FAO Representative in Iraq, Dr. Salah ElHajj Hassan.

On the trainings practical side, focusing on cheese making, FAO Iraqs expert Dr. Kayouli, highlights that: "a participatory and interactive approach was followed to reflect the spirit of teamwork and self-development, which contributed to the development of new types of cheese for the first time in Iraq and Nineveh in particular."

The women participants liked the new produced varieties of cheese and their wonderful taste, and they emphasized that they are learning this to supply the local market. At the beginning, we used the traditional methods. Nowadays, with thanks to FAOs practical training, we have been able to use modern techniques, starting with the process of examining the milk and learning to use the equipment. In addition, we learned modern methods of processing cheese and new types that are popular in the local market, says dairy producer Houda Khalid Jamil from Al-Hamdania, who participated in the training held in Zummar district.

"We look forward to the continued support of FAO and the European Union to improve the manufacture of these products and the development of the household industry to meet the growing market needs," Houda adds.

This EU funded projects contributions formed advanced and successful models of partnership with dairy producers and enabled thousands of families in Nineveh, especially returnees, to improve their income, to develop their businesses and to create new job opportunities.

For more information:

Zeineb MarzoukCommunications SpecialistFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsErbil, IraqTel: +9647719966953Email: zeineb.marzouk@fao.org

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FAO and the European Union: a real partnership with diary producers and empowering rural women [EN/AR] - Iraq - ReliefWeb

BRUSSELS -- European Union auditors said Monday that the bloc's executive arm should have checked more carefully the restrictions on free movement imposed by EU nations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EU nations struggled to coordinate travel restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic which has killed at least 6.3 million people around the world as they tried to maintain a smooth circulation of people and goods.

But the European Court of Auditors, or ECA, said the supervision of the bloc's internal border controls since March 2020 did not fully safeguard the Schengen rules."

In March 2020, several EU nations hastily closed their borders in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, even though the EUs Schengen agreement allows all EU residents to move freely in the area without border checks.

Under the Schengen Code, nations can introduce border checks at their internal borders on grounds of a serious threat to internal security. The ECA said it reviewed all 150 notifications of internal border controls submitted to the European Commission between March 2020 and June 2021, of which 135 related exclusively to COVID-19.

Their review clearly shows that notifications did not provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate that the border controls were indeed a measure of last resort, or that they were proportionate and limited in duration," auditors said. Moreover, the Commission has not launched infringement procedures in respect of long-term border controls that were introduced before the pandemic."

The Schengen Area includes most EU countries, except for Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania. Non-EU nations Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are also part of the Schengen agreement.

Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.

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EU: Schengen travel restrictions badly checked amid pandemic - ABC News