On 25 February 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs, took part in the meeting of the European Union (EU) General Affairs Council in Brussels, which discussed the agenda for the upcoming European Council meeting in March, especially the future relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom.
In a discussion on the EU-UK future relationship, Edgars Rinkēvičs stated that Latvia would like to see relations as close as possible between the EU and the UK, and to have them based, to greatest extent possible, on an agreement at the level of the EU and the United Kingdom in line with EU legislation with a balance between rights and obligations.
The Latvian Foreign Minister drew the Council’s attention to the fact that Latvia’s priorities in relation to the EU-UK future relationship are in safeguarding people’s rights as well as comprehensive trade links in the field of goods and services and for economic cooperation on the basis of a Free Trade Agreement.
Latvia considers that work must be done on a comprehensive shared competence agreement with the UK, said the Foreign Minister adding that, meanwhile, it is of equal importance to, agree, as soon as possible, by the end of 2020, on conditions for future mobility, a model for coordinating social security, and a free trade agreement on services. In view of the large Latvian community in the United Kingdom and the fact that migration to and from the United Kingdom will also continue in future, Latvia’s special interests lie in ensuring the rights of EU citizens, including the preservation of the accrued and future social security entitlements, Edgars Rinkēvičs said.