OREANDA-NEWS. Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said after the meeting of 27 Member States, that future relations between the EU and the UK must be governed by a balance of freedoms and obligations. “For example, there is a clear relationship between access to the internal market and the four freedoms of the European Union. Nobody can expect the benefits without the obligations,” Prime Minister Rõivas said.

The Prime Minister noted that many topics included in the treaty between the EU and the United Kingdom retain their importance even without the UK. “European leaders must continue their discussions on the Single Market, on trade and on the freedoms of Europe,” Prime Minister Rõivas said.

“The United Kingdom is and always will be an important nation in Europe in the political and economic sense as well as in matters related to security,” Rõivas said, adding that today’s meeting agreed unanimously on the fact that the UK will be seen as a very close partner of the EU in the future as well.

The 27 Member States share the view that the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU must be arranged accurately and without any unnecessary delays. The legal basis for this process is stipulated in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

The Council expects the Government of the United Kingdom to notify the European Council of its plan to leave the Union as soon as possible. Any talks before that are out of the question, and only after this notice has been received, will the European Council set down the instructions for talks with the United Kingdom.

The leaders of the Member States of the European Union will continue their discussions on the future of the 27-member EU at the unofficial meeting taking place in Bratislava in September.