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Czech, EC agree on priorities for Brexit talks

Xinhua, December 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Czech Republic and the European Commission (EC) agreed on the priorities for the Brexit talks, said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on Wednesday after his meeting here with the EC's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Sobotka said the most important thing was to preserve all four fundamental EU freedoms, including the free movement of people.

Sobotka said if Britain wants to access to the joint market, it must be able to guarantee all the four fundamental freedoms, including the free movement of people who want to work in other countries.

He said he expected this condition would be part of the political assignment for the talks on Brexit. The assignment will be approved by the European Council in the spring of 2017.

Since July, former EC commissioner and French politician Barnier has been the EC's chief negotiator in charge of the preparation and conduct of negotiations with Britain. He is visiting Prague on a tour of European capitals to find out the positions of individual EU member countries.

After meeting with Sobotka, Barnier also discussed with Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek on Czech experts participating in EC's negotiating team for Brexit. Endit