EU Preparing for Brexit Negotiations
Romania shares the EU stand on Brexit
Bogdan Matei, 28.04.2017, 12:50
Romanias Minister Delegate for European Affairs Ana Birchall, who on Thursday took part in the meeting of the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, says the priority in the negotiations with Great Britain will be to ensure a balanced agreement, with all the four freedoms of the single market, including the free movement of people, properly and fairly reflected.
Here is Ana Birchall for Radio Romania:
“The integrity of the single market and of the four freedoms is extremely important for Romania, and in our view, equally important for the EU, and this will be a key guideline. For Romania in particular, I have emphasised that what is very important is the future of the Romanians who live, study and work in Britain and of their families, and that we must protect their rights and interests. We must also make sure that during the negotiation period the principle of sequencing will be complied with, in other words that we will not move on to negotiate a new element until the previous one has been fully clarified. And of course, it is very important for us to establish what the UK owes under its current obligations, or, if I may put it this way, the bill that the UK has to foot.”
Organised following the UKs official notification of its intention to leave the European Union, the meeting in Luxembourg prepared the negotiating guidelines for the termination of Britains EU membership, which are to be endorsed by the EU leaders in a special EU Council meeting scheduled for April 29. Previously, in Bucharest, PM Sorin Grindeanu emphasised that Romania would remain a friend and ally of Britain, regardless of its staying in the EU or leaving it. In the first meeting of the Interministerial Council on Brexit, the head of the Romanian Government said that during the negotiations Romania must lobby for maintaining at the same level the agriculture and cohesion policies, which are designed to narrow the development gaps between EU members.
Sorin Grindeanu: “Two directions that I believe Romania must follow in these negotiations are preserving the budget allocations under the cohesion policy and the common agricultural policy for the 2014-2020 financial framework, and of course strengthening the post-Brexit UK-EU cooperation in the fields of security and foreign relations.”
International media and analysts dont expect the negotiations to be comfortable. On Thursday, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Britons that they should not expect an easy deal, whereas PM Theresa May accused the Europeans of joining forces against her country.
