Morning Bird: The shutdown ended in the USA. An Austrian applied for exemption from the contribution to the cashbox for solving migration in the EU
Budget shutdown ended in the USA
President Donald Trump signed a spending bill that will allow the government to resume operations and end the longest government shutdown in United States history. The short-term bill was signed only a few hours after it was approved by the House of Representatives by a 222 to 209 vote on Wednesday evening, and two days after it was narrowly approved by the Senate.
In the Oval Office, Trump stated that the government will now resume normal operations after the people were so severely affected by the 43-day shutdown. Many government services had been suspended since October, and approximately 1.4 million federal employees were on unpaid leave or working without pay. Food aid was also uncertain, and air travel across the country was disrupted, reported BBC.
Minister Rakušan wants an exception for the Czech Republic from Brussels for contributions to the migration budget
The Czech Republic, through Interior Minister Vít Rakušan (STAN), requested exemption from contributions to the EU budget for dealing with illegal migration. The Czech Republic is entitled to this relief due to the large number of Ukrainian refugees who have settled in the country after the Russian invasion. According to Prime Minister Petr Fiala, it is likely that the Czech Republic will be exempted from the mechanism.
"Today, I've sent a letter to the commission, where, in total accordance with the rules, I ask for Czechia to be entirely exempt from the obligation - because it has been labelled as a country critically affected by the migration wave - to contribute anything to the European solidarity mechanism," said the Austrian according to CTK.
