H.E. Mr. Du?an Matulay:

Thank you, Chairman. Thank you for the invitation. It is a pleasure and an honour to be here. It is useful to have an exchange about this pressing and important issue.

I wish to echo what has been said by the Chairman with regard to how this presentation will not set out the position of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position Slovakia holds at the moment. This is because it has been agreed that there will be no negotiation without notification. Since we expect Article 50 to be triggered only by the end of March 2017, there is effectively no role for the Presidency at this time.

Brexit is a little like a black hole in the field of astronomy. We know that it exists and we have extensive theoretical wisdom about it but no one really knows how it works or what it does. Indeed, one of the major problems of Brexit and its consequences at this point is the existence of such uncertainty and numerous variables. Another fact is that the impact of Brexit will be different in respective member states. Slovakia, Ireland and Netherlands have diverse degrees of attachment to the UK. There is rather modest economic co-operation between Slovakia and the UK for many objective reasons. These objective reasons are pretty much valid in respect of Ireland as well.

The overall trade exchange is less than €5 billion per year. That is what you produce in one month. Many Slovak exporters will feel and have already felt the weakness of the British pound similar to Irish exporters but it differs from commodity to commodity and some commodities are less prone to be affected than others.

The UK was never one of the largest investors in Slovakia. Its tenth place ranking is due rather to the sheer size of the UK economy rather than some extraordinary or strategic investor activity. That has changed somewhat recently. Range Rover invested €1.5 billion in Slovakia. To show the diversity and variety of possibilities of how Brexit will affect Slovakia, Brexit could be a catalyst for increasing the investment of Range Rover, especially if the process goes towards a hard Brexit. However, that is only as a hypothesis and speculation. An important point mentioned by my colleague is the relatively sizeable number of Slovak citizens living in the UK.

The biggest question for Slovakia is the overall impact of Brexit on the EU as a whole. The Brexit vote is definitely an unprecedented moment in the history of the European Union but also in the history of the post-war multilateral system. We know that we are going to lose the third largest member state, which has the fifth largest national economy in the world and is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. I could continue listing the characteristics of the UK. This is a reality we have to face but have to make the best of it.

The decision had much to do with internal politics in Britain but the vote should also be viewed as a wake-up call for the entire Union. We should ask ourselves frankly why our citizens are withdrawing their trust from the EU. After the referendum, the Heads of State of the EU 27 agreed to start a political reflection process and met informally in Bratislava in September. The Bratislava summit was a unique opportunity for the leaders to have an open political debate without immediate pressure to present some instant solutions. Such debate was badly needed because a European Council meeting in itself usually do not give enough space for a more strategic and in-depth discussion. The ambition in Bratislava was twofold, namely, to provide the general diagnosis for the current situation and to agree on concrete areas of action which will have priority in the coming months. There were huge expectations. At the end of the summit, some people were disappointed and said that the outcome was too basic and too simplistic. However, starting a process is never something spectacular where one gets a big-bang solution. Hence, I am not trying to sell the summit here as a game-changing event because that was never the aim. Its purpose was not to craft a master plan for Europe because we cannot start a new grand design without solving the most pressing issues. It was all about starting a new process, reflecting the new circumstances. If members look at the declaration in the roadmap, they will find that the leaders conveyed several important messages that make the Bratislava summit a success. To name a few, it was a strong political message of unity, it was a realistic recognition of weak spots and an agreement on concrete steps forward in the reflection process.

As for the process, let us stop looking for analogies. Let us not talk about the Swiss, Norwegian or other models. Future EU-UK relations will not copy any of the current models of the EU's co-operation with other states. The UK is leaving the EU. That is a unique situation and that is why future EU-UK relations will be unique. It will not only be the final agreement with the UK that is important but also the negotiations process itself and the overall atmosphere during it. It is obvious that there are political forces on both sides of the English Channel who may abuse EU-UK talks for their own domestic agendas, but the good news is that - members can take this from me as a representative of Slovakia - a peaceful divorce, a soft Brexit or whatever we want to call it, is possible. We, as Slovaks, have an authentic right to say so. We have had our authentic experience. We made a valid divorce between the Czechs and Slovaks and the important element of it was the process. Slovakia had a positive experience in the context of the splitting up of the Czechoslovak Federation, regardless of the many emotions and temptations to misuse the process. The negotiations process was dominated by responsibility and good agreements. Those settlements were favourable for both parties and, thus, later became an important base for the subsequent excellent relationships between the countries involved.

We are aware that the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council have built teams for Brexit and appointed their own negotiators. Michel Barnier was recently in Ireland and he will be in Bratislava in two days' time. Each of these institutions will at certain points take part in the negotiations for the approval of the outcome and, furthermore, in many countries the final agreement with the UK will have to be ratified by the national parliaments. Member states must have real influence and oversight of the process and the results of the negotiations. Therefore, they have to agree on a correct negotiating mandate for the Commission. The whole process should be completely transparent, with the full involvement of member states. Further, it is important that there should be a regular reports on the progress of it. For Slovakia, it is hard to overstate that member states must keep control of the negotiations process to the fullest extent possible. Member states should be the decisive factor in the defining the parameters of a future EU-UK agreement.

As for structures, an interdepartmental working group at the state secretary level from respective Slovak Ministries has been formed to analyse issues related to the United Kingdom's departure from the EU, similar to what is happening in Ireland or the Netherlands. The task force in our case is led by our Minister for Europe, who is the state Minister at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The task force will focus on identifying sensitive areas of Brexit and on analysing its potential impact on Slovakia.

We note British statements about Article 50 being triggered by the end of March 2017. At this point, it should become also clear what relationship the UK wants to establish with the EU. Within the time left, the EU should prepare for negotiations in terms of the internal process. We need to ensure that the entire process is under control from the very beginning so as to avoid doubts or misunderstandings for citizens and business. To achieve the common goals of the EU 27, we have to maintain unity among member states. We will not accept any cherry-picking during the negotiations with the UK. Access to the Single Market requires acceptance of all four freedoms, including the free movement of persons and the financial contribution for this access. We do not see any room for compromises there. After leaving the EU, the UK will not go anywhere; it will continue to be one of the closest political and trade partners of the EU. Therefore, it is important to keep the UK as close to the Union as possible. However, there should a clear distinction and added value between being a member and not being a member of the EU. I thank the members of the committee for their attention.