Brexit talks move to second stage
Britain has made sufficient progress in clarifying 3 key aspects of Brexit, the 27 EU heads of state agreed in Brussels on Friday
Corina Cristea, 18.12.2017, 13:04
The leaders of the 27 EU member countries, convening in Brussels at the end of last week, agreed that Brexit negotiations can move to a second stage, one which will look at the relations between the UK and the Union once the Britons leave the bloc in March 2019. London has made sufficient progress in clarifying 3 key aspects of Brexit, the EU-27 decided, speaking about the divorce bill, the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the rights of European citizens in post-Brexit UK.
As far as Romania is concerned, the results so far fully meet the goals pursued in the negotiations, the Romanian presidency says in a press release. The Romanian citizens living in the UK and their families will continue to benefit from all their current rights as regulated by the EU legislation. All social security benefits, including family and child allowances, remain in place, and the professional qualifications obtained or pending prior to Brexit will be recognised. Family reunion principles have also been agreed on, with future family members and the children of the EU citizens in Britain granted the same rights as before.
Guidelines have also been adopted for the negotiations on the transition period and the future UK-EU relations. According to the Romanian presidency, these guidelines concern aspects like the need to finalise all stage-one elements and to reinforce these outcomes by beginning to draft the withdrawal agreement, making second-stage negotiations conditional on compliance with all the commitments made in the first stage, and the intention to preserve a close partnership with Britain in fields of mutual interest such as security, defence and foreign policy. In the context of the endorsement of these guidelines, President Klaus Iohannis, who represented Romania in the Brussels summit, underlined Bucharest’s interest in having a strong partnership with the UK in terms of security, defence, foreign relations and the fight against terrorism. (Translated by A.M. Popescu)
