Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis:

I can confirm the position we have on Brexit where we also take the Irish interest strongly into consideration, including the question of the Border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which needs to be addressed. That is very much on the EU's agenda. As I said, the EU will continue to support Ireland in the context of Brexit because we recognise that of the EU 27, Ireland is the country most affected by Brexit.

In the Brexit negotiations, we are currently concentrating on the transitional period. We are now doing preparatory work on a mandate from the member states on future relations and to start the negotiations on future relations with the UK. The free trade agreement will be one of the main elements in future relations. Those future relations will probably not be tantamount to the EU Single Market. There are certain conditions for access to the EU Single Market, which the UK has decided it is not willing to respect. We talk about respect for freedoms, including the free movement of labour, a financial contribution to the EU budget and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice. There are certain choices the UK has to make because the Internal Market does not come for free. There are certain conditions that countries that are members of the Internal Market must respect.