STA, 25 November 2018 - Nobody is excited about Brexit, we are saving what we can, Prime Minister Marjan Šarec said in Brussels after the Brexit deal was endorsed at Sunday's extraordinary EU summit. "We opened a parachute about half-way before the ground and now we're counting on it to ease the consequences of the fall," he said.
The leaders of 27 EU member states confirmed a comprehensive and complex divorce agreement with the UK that deals with the rights of citizens, financial settlement, the border on the island of Ireland, a transitional period and a non-binding political statement on future relations.
Šarec said the meeting was over relatively quickly and that everything had gone smoothly and in line with expectations. "We're all aware that it's not a happy occasion, but if the ratification is successful we have prevented the worst," he said.
Premier pa pozdravlja, da je EU-27 s potrditvijo sporazuma prispevala k temu, da bodo negativne posledice izhoda manjše, kot bi bile sicer. Izrazil je tudi upanje, da bo britanska stran v prihodnjih tednih in mesecih ravnala preudarno.
— Vlada Republike Slovenije (@vladaRS) November 25, 2018
?Thierry Monasse/STA pic.twitter.com/NBNpeEjJ4X
May prefers a deal to no deal
In the second part of the meeting, the EU leaders were joined by British Prime Minister Theresa May. According to Šarec, May expressed her satisfaction with the deal, bearing in mind that the only other alternative would be a non-deal, which would mean big problems.
Slovenia believes the deal reached was the best possible solution in the given situation, regardless of the fact that some in the UK say that more could have been achieved, Šarec said.
He said the negotiation team led by Michael Barnier had done a very good job and should be congratulated. He rejected criticism that the team only talked to Berlin and Paris in the end, saying that it was logical that more attention was devoted to the most affected countries.
The UK was a tough negotiator and it would not be fair to judge their negotiation skills from the outside now, Šarec said.
But the Slovenian prime minister warned that the work was not over yet. The Brexit deal now faces the toughest challenge in the British parliament.
Šarec is moderately optimistic about this, believing in the sound judgement of British MPs.
#EU27 leaders formalise #Brexit agreeent during special #EUCO meeting. @eucopresident pic.twitter.com/PBSUbMpBar
— EU Council TV News (@EUCouncilTVNews) November 25, 2018
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