The European Union is offering new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a wary w...
BRUSSELS/PARIS - The European Union is offering new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a wary welcome, insisting it will consider any detailed new ideas he has on Brexit but cautious lest his gambit is ultimately to blame Brussels for a no-deal departure.
Johnson says the Irish backstop, an insurance against a hard border on a new EU frontier between Ireland and Northern Ireland, must be struck from that Withdrawal Agreement. “October is around the corner. The moon mission was planned for several years. It could take 10 years to develop a technical solution,” said an EU diplomat.
Johnson has said he would prefer an exit deal, but was willing to pull Britain out of the European Union at the end of October without one, ideally with both sides retaining zero tariffs. EU sources dismiss the idea of such a mini-deal or managed no deal, lacking a divorce bill of over 30 billion pounds and retaining certain perks of the single market.
“It might make a difference. We don’t know in advance. It could be like Nixon going to China,” an EU diplomat said, referring to U.S. President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing that abruptly normalised U.S.-China relations.“He has many facets. He can be charming. Now he’s put forward the bully, but he is capable of acting differently.
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