OREANDA-NEWS. Negotiations with EU member states regarding further deadlines for border closures in the context of the coronavirus pandemic are actively underway. This was announced on Friday by the head of the European Commission (EC) Ursula von der Leyen in an interview with a French radio station. This is the first interview von der Leyen has given to Western media since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time, she condemned the closure of internal borders in the EU by a number of countries. "At the very beginning of the crisis, a number of countries tended to worry only about their own problems. Of course, this approach is undesirable. But we have put a lot of effort into achieving a change in this mentality", said the head of the European Commission.

“Let me remind you that at the beginning of the epidemic there were facts of closing borders or export bans. This caused various kinds of violations - in particular, the supply of medical equipment, which is so necessary in the current situation. But we jointly overcame these problems”, the head of the European Commission assured.