DUBLIN, May 11 (Xinhua) -- EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier said on Thursday he regrets that Brexit is happening now.
"I would have liked to have seen the UK staying in Europe, with Ireland and all the 26 other Member States," said Barnier, while delivering a speech to a joint sitting of the upper and lower houses of Irish parliament.
"But we are where we are," he said.
Barnier said that being part of a common project and identity does not prevent a country from keeping its own identity and making a name for itself in the world.
"Some, in large countries with imperial pasts, like my own, seem to think that the EU makes them smaller. This is simply not true," the former French foreign minister said.
Barnier said pooling member states' national sovereignty will increases European sovereignty as a whole.
"Being together makes us all stronger," he said.
Barnier listed the benefits and conveniences which an EU member state has enjoyed, such as the free movement of people, capital and goods within the EU.
"Because we are part of the EU, businesses can trade goods without customs duties and documentation requirements are very simple," he said.
"As part of the EU's single market, companies can rely on fair competition, with a level playing field," he added.
But Barnier said the current EU is not perfect.
"There are lessons to draw from the crisis, from Brexit and from the rising scores of populist parties in many countries, including mine," he said.
Barnier said the EU should listen to people's feelings and respond with policy change.
At a summit held in Brussels on April 29, the leaders of the 27 remaining EU countries adopted unanimously the Brexit guidelines.
According to the Brexit guidelines, the EU, throughout the negotiations, will maintain unity and act as one with the aim of reaching a result that is "fair and equitable for all member states and in the interest of its citizens."
The two year timeframe of Brexit negotiations set out in Article 50 ends on March 29 of 2019.
