Assessments after Brexit

The official number of Romanian workers in Great Britain stands at about 200 thousand. How will they be affected by Brexit?

Corina Cristea, 27.06.2016, 13:44

The result of Britain’s EU referendum puts the European Union in an unprecedented situation, which Brussels officials as well as each European leader must now learn how to manage. In Bucharest, shortly after the results of the referendum were made public, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis met with the governor of the National Bank of Romania, Mugur Isarescu, the PM Dacian Cioloş and the leaders of the parliamentary parties to discuss the impact of Brinain’s decision to withdraw from the EU.

The conclusion of the talks was that Romania can manage without problems the impact of Brexit. President Iohannis has said the National Bank governor assured him that the this institution was prepared for Brexit, and although the national currency exchange rate has been affected by the referendum result, the damage is moderate as compared to the other central and east European currencies. The process of Britain’s leaving the EU will be long and preceded by many rounds of negotiations. Romania will take part in these negotiations and will focus on its own interests, president Iohannis has also said.

Klaus Iohannis: “Romania will negotiate in such a way as to protect its own interests. And most importantly, Romania will negotiate in such a way as to take care of the Romanian citizens who live and work in Great Britain. It’s important to know that, Britain, after leaving the EU, will remain a very important partner for Romania. However, it will not have a privileged status in its relationship with the EU”.

It is important for Romania to participate actively in the talks within the EU and to make the right decisions for its evolution, PM Cioloş says: “Romania has a good economic situation at present and it is critical that, through the measures we’ll be taking, the stand we’ll adopt in the coming period at government level and at the level of the political class, this good economic situation should be turned into an advantage so as to increase the role and impact which Romania may have, as an EU member state, in the ensuing talks. Therefore I urge the Romanian officials to be cautious in making political decisions in this election year, especially political decisions that may have an impact on the country’s budget and economy”.

All Romanian politicians say that Romania should stay on the European path, because the EU is a valuable project that has to be continued.

(Translated by Lacramioara Simion)