EU's chief Brexit negotiator visits Warsaw

EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, met with Polish deputy foreign minister Konrad Szymanski on Thursday in Warsaw, in preparation for a negotiation mandate from the Polish government for Brexit talks.

Barnier told reporters that securing the rights of EU citizens would be the EU's top priority in negotiations with Britain and he wanted to succeed in Brexit negotiations for the common good.

Furthermore, he enumerated three conditions of such a success -- preserving the EU unity, eliminating zones of uncertainty and putting Brexit procedures and stages in chronological order.

Barnier also warned against the lack of agreement and stressed that a "hard Brexit" would have negative consequences for all 27 EU countries as well as Britain.

Szymanski said that the principle of reciprocity alone was not enough to secure the rights of EU citizens in Britain. He added that it was necessary to define the scope of these rights in EU laws, which will also be Poland's goal in Brexit negotiations.

"As far as a financial agreement is concerned, we understand different political, budgetary and legal obligations but we want the agreement to be honest and objective," Szymanski said.

"There is no reason to punish Great Britain for its democratic choice, but is must fulfill the obligations it has taken upon itself as an EU member," Szymanski said.

Szymanski also expressed that the postulate of "proportional migration control" could not influence the rights acquired by citizens of EU countries.

During visiting Warsaw, preceding the EU summit on April 29, Barnier also attended the meeting of Sejm (lower house of Polish Parliament) EU Committee, together with Marek Prawda, director of European Commission Representation in Poland. Endit