For the protection of the external borders, against fences and controls at the Bavarian borders. The border regions in particular benefit from open borders

"We have to break down barriers instead of erecting fences ", demanded the president of the Ost West Wirtschaftsclub (OWWC), former minister of state Eberhard Sinner (CSU) at the joint club evening of the OWWC with the German East Forum Munich (DOM).

The focal point of the last OWWC Club Evening before the merger with the DOM into the OstWestWirtschaftsforum Bayern (OWWF) was economic cooperation in the border region of Eastern Bavaria, South Bohemia and Upper Austria. Twenty-five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, these former peripheral regions have moved to the heart of Europe and are benefiting from the fact that there are no longer any borders or border controls,"said Sinner. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular were able to take advantage of the opportunities offered by cross-border cooperation. Today, only the language barriers are still an obstacle between Bavaria and the Czech Republic, even though more and more people in the borderland learned the language of their neighbours.

Ludwig Rechenmacher from the Chamber of Crafts of Lower Bavaria/Upper Palatinate emphasized that the borderland profited from the fact that things were approached in a slightly different way in each country and that new approaches to solutions were always being learned.

In particular, there should not be new borders today. The reintroduction of border controls led to considerable costs and delays for the economy and commuters. The former head of the Bavarian State Chancellery demanded that the border controls between Bavaria and Austria must be dismantled quickly. Unfortunately, it is now often the case that deadlines, deliveries and services in neighbouring countries have to be cancelled because it is no longer guaranteed that trains and traffic between Bavaria and Austria are running normally. The crisis situation must not become the normal situation.

In over 40 years of its existence, the OWWC has always campaigned for borders to be abolished and freedom of travel in Europe to be enforced as a fundamental freedom. This tradition, founded by the former District Administrator and founder of the OWWC Max Fischer, will be continued.