EU, Britain should find new model: Slovak PM

Britain and the EU will need to find a completely new model during and after Brexit, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Monday.

Addressing the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) here, Fico said it probably won't be possible to apply the model for relations with Switzerland and Norway.

"Relations with Britain are so specific that we have to come up with a new model," he said.

As 80,000 Slovaks and around 1 million Poles live in Britain, "we need top-notch and balanced relations but also the respect for national peculiarities and demands so that these people won't be turned into second class citizens," he emphasized.

"We fully respect Britain's decision, but it's not possible for Britain to cherry-pick. We won't negotiate about the four freedoms of movement," said Fico, adding that the EU mustn't be aggressive, but neither should it be naive.

Fico described Slovakia;s presidency of the Council of the EU as extraordinarily fruitful.

"We hope that it will be deemed as one of the most successful, but we'll have to wait until Dec. 31 for that," added Fico.

He thinks that the Bratislava summit that took place on Sept. 16 was one of the most important events of the presidency.

"It's good that we've drafted the so-called Bratislava roadmap that includes specific priorities the EU should focus on. I'm glad that Malta, as a country succeeding in the presidency, is interested in respecting and implementing the roadmap," stated the Slovak leader. Endit