President Iohannis: The result of UK election, very good for Romanians there
President Klaus Iohannis on Friday stated that the result of the parliamentary election in the UK is "very good" for the Romanians living there, considering that British PM Boris Johnson wants a Brexit with an agreement.
"This result is very good for the Romanians living in the UK, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party wanted - and I think that they still want - a Brexit with an agreement, that certain agreement negotiated with the EU, which is a good agreement that protects our Romanians, giving them significant rights, and that's why I have said it so many times, and now it seems to me that we're getting close to this solution, that the best option there is, if we reach that Brexit moment, is to at least have a Brexit with an agreement, and this is what will happen, it seems," Iohannis said in Brussels.
He said he was pleased with the result of the parliamentary election in the UK, voicing hope at the same time that, with "a clear majority," the Brexit will be achieved with an agreement.
"All I can say is that I am pleased with the result obtained there, in the sense that there is now a clear majority that, we all hope, will carry out the Brexit with an agreement, obviously," said the head of the state.
British PM Boris Johnson scored a very clear victory in the early polls that took place on Thursday, with the Conservative Party winning 326 seats of the total 650 of the House of Commons, according to the official partial results released on Friday.
On the other hand, speaking about the preparation of Multiannual Financial Framework, President Klaus Iohannis has announced on Friday that within the European Council meeting it was decided that this will be hand over to the Presidency of the European Council.
"The matter related to the Multiannual Financial Framework has been discussed and we decided, all together, to hand over the preparation of this budget to the Presidency of the European Council, because in the manner in which work was put in this draft, so far, the progress we expected hasn't been achieved. Thus, as of now, this matter will no longer be in the rotating Presidency's responsibility, but it will be under the Presidency of the European Council. Other important topics were also discussed last evening," Iohannis stated.
The head of state mentioned that another discussion tackled within the European Council meeting was on climate.
"The main goal was to obtain the so-called climate neutrality for the European Union by 2050. This goal has been discussed and the majority of us agreed that the European Union wants this thing. Here, I want to make another two remarks which are very important for the general public, to understand, in fact, what we are talking about here. Climate neutrality means we reach such a low level of emissions that virtually no climate change occurs. It's a very ambitious goal. However, until then, we have the clear and technically set out goal, 2030, and this objective is firmly assumed by the European Union and Romania fares pretty well in terms of achieving targets for 2030. So that everyone back home understands that we are working on lowering emissions and we are working with remarkable success in the EU," Iohannis explained.
The President underscored that the protection of nature and avoiding a climate catastrophe are "extremely important" things. "We're doing something practical, concrete. We haven't obtained unanimity and this matter will be resumed in June next year, but the progress is a significant and encouraging one," he added.
Klaus Iohannis added that today, he is also to attend the Euro Summit meeting in an intensive format where aspects related to the banking union are to be discussed. "Later, we will have a discussion on Article 50, namely about Brexit and, today, I also foresee discussions with positive results," Iohannis also said.
President Klaus Iohannis participates on Thursday and Friday in the meeting of the European Council in Brussels.