(Strasbourg) “As to Brexit, we are looking for rational and reasonable solutions”, and the agreement reached with London a few days ago “is a good basis on the three key issues” – citizens’ rights, UK’s financial obligations to the EU, relations between the two Irelands – which “must now be translated into a legally binding text”. Michel Barnier is chief negotiator of the European Commission for Brexit. In the run-up to the European Council that will have to formalise the first part of the agreement with London to move on to the negotiations about future relationships between the two shores of the Channel, he shows he did not like the statement made by British Minister David Davis, who called the May-Juncker agreement “a statement of intent”. “We have a duty to protect the rights of the 4 million EU citizens who live and work in the United Kingdom”, Barnier says, “and the rights of the British citizens who live” on the continent. “But – he adds – there are some non-negotiable issues: the EU’s 4 fundamental freedoms (free movement of people, goods, capital and services), “the single market, the EU legislation” applicable in the member states. Lastly, he adds: “We’ll look for a fair agreement, but, of course, the United Kingdom will be a third country” after Brexit.