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Kaliningrad, which has a population of nearly 1 million, became the only such exclave within the EU when a 2004 EU enlargement brought in both Poland and Lithuania. The European Commission has proposed allowing the states bordering Kaliningrad to negotiate bilateral agreements to make border crossings easier for people living within 30 to 50 kilometers of the EU frontier, writes LETA/ELTA.

This would involve issuing special permits for regular crossings instead of visas, for which fees could be waived.

All people living within the Kaliningrad enclave will enjoy the benefits of this amendment," commission spokesman Michele Cercone said. "Usually they have the necessity for family, cultural or economic reasons to move across the border quite often; sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for a few days."