What kind of Brexit?

An EU Brexit summit was held in Brussels on April 29th

Bogdan Matei, 02.05.2017, 13:25

Romania wants the talks on Brexit to be held at a fast pace and to clarify all the matters of interest to the Romanian nationals living and working in Great Britain. On behalf of Bucharest, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis said that the European leaders expected London to abide by the pledges it had made. It is very important for the whole process to put the people first, the Romanian President said.

Klaus Iohannis: “ For us it is very important that the negotiations be held most seriously, at a fast pace and be thorough, that is clarify all issues, related not only to residence, jobs, right to employment, but to other problems too, for instance, those related to pensions, because there are millions of people across Europe who have relied on the fact that they can settle and find jobs anywhere in the Union, many of them have brought their families along, and all those things have by all means to be seen through.”

“I can give Romanians all the guarantees that the EU27 offers, and there are many such guarantees. We are determined to negotiate so that EU nationals, including Romanians, should have all their rights respected. On the other hand, we are willing to negotiate the British citizens’ rights in the member states”, President Iohannis went on to say. He said that the guidelines for the Brexit negotiations, unanimously adopted by the EU leaders, were aimed at securing people’s rights.

According to the media, a second question is of a financial nature. President Iohannis said that the member states expected Great Britain to abide by the pledges it had made before the notification of its EU exit. London sees things a little different. The British Prime Minister Theresa May said she was optimistic about the settlement of the status of the European nationals in Great Britain and of British nationals in the Union, but she dismissed Brussels’ calls for London to meet its current financial commitments before the start of the Brexit talks.

The acute institutional and image-related crisis that Brexit has caused to the Union is far from being over. Described as a keen pro-European, at least when compared to the Europhobic far right leader Marine Le Pen, the centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has warned that the European Union must reform or face Frexit. During this election, Macron said, “I’ve constantly defended the European idea and policies because they are extremely important to the French people and to the place of our country in globalisation. But the dysfunction of the EU is no longer sustainable,” the frontrunner in France’s presidential election concluded.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Palcu)