Premier Babiš met with the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš received on Thursday, 12 April 2018, the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit, Michel Barnier. The key themes of their meeting were the current developments in the withdrawal of the UK from the EU and the consequences of the approaching Brexit for the EU and the Czech Republic.

The Czech prime minister expressed full support of the Czech government for Michel Barnier in his negotiations. He also stressed that the Czech interest was mainly the protection of the rights of Czech citizens who live in the UK today. The EU's chief negotiator informed the Czech premier about the current developments in the negotiation including the negotiation of a political agreement about the transition period.

"For us, to put it briefly, it is important to maintain the current conditions in fact the same also after Brexit. Around 50 thousand of our citizens are working in the UK today and these are, of course, our priority. Apart from that, it is also important to safeguard our trade relations because the UK is an export market for us and our export there is substantially larger than import from there," said Premier Babiš after the meeting.

Another theme of today's meeting of Andrej Babiš with Michel Barnier was the EU-UK cooperation in the area of security. The prime minister agreed with the chief negotiator that even after Brexit it is necessary to maintain close cooperation exactly in this area, mainly through information exchange, ensuring the rights of citizens in free movement of persons and maintaining the free movement of personal data in all areas within the scope of EU law.

The Czech government discusses Brexit regularly. Last month, the UK's Brexit Secreatary, David Davis, visited Prague, the Office of the Government regularly hosts the meetings of the Working Group for Brexit, led by the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Aleš Chmelař, and consisting of representatives of ministries and economic and social partners. Michel Barnier attended its meeting before speaking with the Czech prime minister.