Meeting between Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the European Commission Chief Brexit Negotiator

The minister was accompanied by a delegation from the ministerial departments affected by the negotiations on the withdrawal by the United Kingdom from the EU: Employment, the Treasury, Agriculture, Education and Trade. These departments form part of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Brexit, tasked with coordinating everything related to this matter. The committee is headed up by the Vice-President of the Government, Minister for the Presidency and for the Regional Administrations.

During the course of the meeting, Alfonso Dastis and Michael Barnier reviewed aspects that will be addressed in the future negotiations on the United Kingdom's exit from the EU. The minister also conveyed the main concerns and priorities that Spain wishes to incorporate into the negotiating mandate and heard, first hand, the European Commission's view.

Minister Dastis reminded the Chief Negotiator that Spain regrets the decision taken by the British people to withdraw from the EU, since it represents the loss of an important partner with which Spain maintains close relations. Spain wishes to reach the best possible agreement with the United Kingdom and for it to maintain its collaboration with the EU but that this, at any event, must be a balanced agreement.

Minister Dastis insisted, in particular, that Spain advocates a swift solution to the situation of European citizens in the United Kingdom and British citizens in the EU. In this regard, the Chief Negotiator agreed that the question of the rights of citizens is one of the most important aspects of the negotiations and agreed with Minister Dastis that citizens must be the top priority.

They also both agreed on the need to resolve, at the start of the negotiations and on a priority basis, the principles that must govern the financial arrangement under the agreement on the withdrawal and that govern the rights of citizens. Spain will support the broadest possible agreement on the issue of the rights of citizens whereby the conditions thereof must be subject to negotiation under the principle of reciprocity.

Finally, the Chief Negotiator announced an upcoming visit to Madrid to continue his dialogue with the Government of Spain and extend this to the Lower House of Parliament and Spanish social stakeholders. Minister Dastis pointed out that he assigns great importance to this ongoing exchange of information between the Commission and other European institutions and Member States.