Hopes dashed of allowing immediate travel to EU on basis of ID card

The public will still have to use their passports for the whole coming year in order to enter Germany, which has failed to convince other EU partners to allow Poles to travel using only their identity cards. An agreement on this issue from other EU members was necessary because all other borders with Germany have no passport control whatsoever. Therefore if someone went to Germany with an ID card, he can easily travel to any other EU country almost unrestricted. German officials wanted to allow the sole use of an ID card for Poles from tomorrow, as the Accession Treaty is signed in Athens. It was supposed to be regarded as an encouragement for Poles to vote yes in the June EU entry referendum. Germany also wanted to illustrate their trust for Poland as a future member of the EU. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A10) A.K.