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Romania supports the continuation of a close cooperation of the European Union with the United Kingdom in areas of common interest, even after the latter's backing out of the EU, President Klaus Iohannis communicated, on Tuesday, to the European Union's Chief Negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier.
„The President of Romania voiced his appreciation for the activity of the Chief Negotiator for Brexit and of his team in this process. President Klaus Iohannis expressed his hope that the efforts made by the representatives of the European institutions and member states will materialise into an endorsement of an Withdrawal Agreement and a Political Declaration concerning the framework of the future relations between the EU and the United Kingdom”, reads the press release.
According to the quoted source, Iohannis underlined the special importance of maintaining the unity of the 27 member states of the EU within the negotiations concerning Brexit, showing that this approach represents an essential premise in the efficient management of this process.
At the same time, the head of state reiterated Romania's support for an orderly and predictable process of the United Kingdom's withdrawal, in order to lay the foundation of a future relationship as close as possible between the EU and the United Kingdom.
President Iohannis also highlighted that the main priority at this stage of the negotiations is finalizing the text of the Withdrawal Agreement as quickly as possible, by identifying some solutions concerning the still divergent issues, especially as regards the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
As concerns the economic cooperation model in the context of the future relations, the president underlined that the integrity of the EU's Single Market and the indivisibility of the four freedoms represent essential pillars of the European project and they are not negotiable, the Presidential Administration specifies.
„President Klaus Iohannis pointed out that Romania supports the continuation of a close cooperation of the EU with the United Kingdom, in areas of common interest, even after the latter's withdrawal from the Union and showed that, for our country, an agreement in the area of external security with the United Kingdom is of particular interest”, the press release further mentions.
Furthermore, Iohannis mentioned that during the discussions on the future relations, our country will place the citizen at the centre of its objectives and that is why "[he] firmly supports the importance of the negotiation of an ambitious regulatory framework with regard to the citizens' mobility, in compliance with the principles of reciprocity and non-discrimination," the Presidential Administration points out.
In his turn, Michel Barner made a presentation of the negotiations' evolution and the next steps of the United Kingdom's withdrawal process from the EU.
Michel Barnier also pointed out that Romania, as a state that will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, in the first semester of 2019, will have an important role in ensuring the necessary institutional framework which will allow the orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU and in the carrying out of the negotiations concerning the future relations between the Union and the United Kingdom”, the press release further shows.
