Iohannis: Brexit agreement satisfies us, issue of Romanian citizens living in UK is well resolved

President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that the first phase of the Brexit agreement is satisfactory for Romania, showing that the issue of Romanian citizens living in the UK is well resolved.

"I believe that an agreement will be reached ... (...) It is a very technical document already, and a document that satisfies us because, for example, the issue of the Romanian citizens living in the UK is well resolved, of course for the others as well, not just for the Romanians, and many other issues. The extremely thorny issue of money has been practically negotiated, there are still practical details to negotiate, but we are far, far beyond a gentleman's agreement or an agreement in principle, which however gives us hopes that by the end of 2018 we will have a clear understanding," the head of state said before the European Council meeting. 

He considered that the winter meeting of the European Council is very important for Romania, in the context in which the topics on the agenda are extremely important: the collaboration on defense, migration, for which solutions in the medium and long term are being sought, culture and education. 

The President said that on Friday there would be a first - a Eurosummit with the participation of non-Eurozone countries. He pointed out that there is a proposal of the European Commission to support the states that are not yet members of the Eurozone and want to become so by specific programmes. 

"It is a first exploratory discussion at the level of leaders and these topics will not be decided today (...) The creation of a European fund will probably bring, if agreed, a strengthening of the relevant discipline, which is not bad at all, but this is a decision that first of all has to be taken by those in the Eurozone. The discussions about a minister that is a finance minister and also for the Eurozone is a discussion that is still very heated among the Eurozone members. Romania is not going to have a very strong position in areas where we are not yet members. We are focusing on issues such as, for example, a very good project to support states wishing to become members of the Eurozone," added President Iohannis.