Brexit

EU's chief negotiator for future relations with the UK, Michel Barnier, tested positive for the coronavirus, DPA reported.

"I would like to inform you that my sample for COVID-19 has turned out to be positive," he said on Twitter, adding that he 'doing well and in good spirits' and announced he was 'following the necessary instructions' along with his staff.

The European Union and the United Kingdom take note of the profound differences in their negotiating positions on the future relations agreement. This was announced today by EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier after the first round of talks that began in Brussels earlier this week.

European Union finance ministers are unlikely to decide on any concrete action in response to the coronavirus outbreak at their teleconference on Wednesday as the call is meant to be mainly a stock-taking exercise, three EU finance officials said.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will pay a working visit to Ankara on March 3, according to Turkey's Foreign Ministry.

In a statement on March 2, the ministry said Raab will hold talks with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu during the visit.

The duo will discuss bilateral issues following Brexit on Jan. 31.

The point-based immigration system to be applied in the UK does not affect Romanians and the rest of EU citizens who have registered for special status, in settled or pre-settled schemes, but those who want to live in the Kingdom next year, when the post-Brexit transition period expires, British Ambassador in Bucharest Andrew Noble told an interview with AGERPRES.

Commenting on Brexit recently, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon called for Scotland to have its own strategy on immigration and asylum, separate to that of London. Sturgeon noted that Scotland is facing a demographic crisis as a result of dropping birth rates and an aging population, arguing that the economy and public services are dependent on migration.

Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan has told the ambassadors of EU countries in Ankara that Turkey is waiting for the European Commission to renew the 1996 customs union agreement.

"Your contributions in this sense are exceptionally important. We invite you to work with the business world," she said at a meeting with the EU Delegation to Turkey on Feb. 26.

The UK will not tolerate any European Union compliance requirements, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz during talks in London, a spokesman for the prime minister's office told RIA Novosti.

Interim Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu participated in Brussels on Tuesday in the meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC), which tackled the enlargement of the European Union and the post-Brexit negotiations, a release of the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) informed. The meeting agenda also included the preparations for the European Council of 26-27 March.

Let it be recorded that until the Brexit referendum in 2016, relations between the people of Britain and other citizens of the European Union appeared excellent. Although it was to be expected that the choice between "Leave" and "Remain" would provoke a rift among Britons, many of us did not expect the referendum to poison relations between the people of Britain and the rest of Europe.