BRATISLAVA , Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Slovakia is taking measures to prepare for a hard Brexit, Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak stated on Thursday.
The draft of a legislative act on dealing with various practical issues, mainly guaranteeing the same rights for citizens, is in the works, he said.
Lajcak believes that the UK doesn't have too many options left.
"The deal was rejected; I don't know what would have to happen in order for the same deal to be approved. The margin of the vote was enormous, more than anyone could have expected," he said.
Regarding a hard Brexit, Lajcak stressed that the price would be unnecessarily excessive. Based on his own personal visit to London, he claimed that society there "is deeply divided and will remain so regardless of the result."
Lajcak doesn't view postponing Brexit as realistic.
"The British side would have to justify it," noted the foreign minister, adding that the EU was ready to support it.
"However, if it's only supposed to prolong the agony, it will resolve nothing," he pointed out.
Lajcak doesn't think that the deal will be subjected to any further changes for various reasons, one of them being that the deal is balanced as it is, with rights and obligations set at the same level.
