Government nods to Czechs travelling outside EU with ID card

Prague, Nov 21 (CTK) - The Czech cabinet Wednesday approved a draft amendment to the bill on travel documents that is to enable Czechs to travel also to countries outside the EU using only their ID cards instead of passports, sources informed about the cabinet meeting told CTK.

The Interior Ministry has proposed the amendment because after the Czech accession to the EU in 2004, some Balkan countries decided to permit Czech citizens' entry only with their ID cards.

The first Balkan state to take the step was Croatia, and others have followed.

The draft amendment says the country of destination must explicitly agree with Czechs entering it with ID cards only.

That is why this way of travelling should be based either on bilateral agreements or on the unilateral decision of the countries of destination.

If the draft amendment is definitively passed, the Czech Foreign Ministry will have to issue in the Law Digest a list of the states that can be entered without a passport.

It would be up to the police to prevent the EU's external borders from being crossed by persons who have been banned from doing so.

The Interior Ministry expects the costs of the relevant police measures not to cross one million crowns a year, in view of the infrequent imposition of such bans and of air transport checks.