Johnson threatens internal rebellion over Brexit course – politics –

The prime minister has a majority of 80 votes in the lower house. The government is assuming that they will get their law passed, he said. With the “Internal Market Law”, Johnson wants to change the exit agreement agreed with the EU in 2019 in essential points. These are special rules for British Northern Ireland, which should avoid a hard border with the EU state Ireland and further hostilities there.

Ireland’s Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said compliance with the treaty was a “prerequisite” for any other deal. The EU Commission asked London to withdraw the plans by the end of September, which the British government immediately rejected.

After London did it alone in the Brexit saga, Europe is demanding compliance with the treaty and is increasingly preparing for Britain’s difficult exit from the EU. Eurogroup leader Paschal Donohoe warned the British government to adhere to the agreements that had been concluded with the EU on the details of the Brexit divorce. That is the prerequisite for negotiating a free trade agreement, the Irishman said in Berlin on Friday before the start of deliberations by European finance ministers. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier stressed that in view of the lack of progress in ongoing negotiations on future relations, the EU was pushing business games for a hard Brexit by the end of the year.

The government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that it will partially annul the divorce treaty ratified with the EU in a planned law for British internal trade. The EU insists that London must adhere to the treaty and a promise not to allow a so-called hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the EU country Ireland.

This new dispute puts additional pressure on the ongoing talks between the two sides, which had already stalled on the issues of state aid and fishing rights. According to the EU, a crisis meeting did not produce a satisfactory result. The Brussels Commission later warned against passing the law by parliament. If the UK goes ahead with the project, it would be an “extremely serious violation” of the divorce treaty and international law. Acting alone “seriously damaged” trust between Brussels and London.

The UK left the EU at the end of January. However, until the end of the year there is still a transitional phase in which future relationships need to be clarified, for example in the field of trade. If no deal is reached, Britain threatens an unregulated exit from the EU. In such a case, experts warn of serious financial consequences for both parties.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, who hosted the European ministerial meeting, also said in Berlin on Friday that negotiations would have to continue until the last attempt. “It is clear that everyone has to stick to what has been agreed. Contracts must be respected.” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire added that the EU will not accept anything that weakens the European internal market.

Austria’s department head Gernot Blümel said it reminded him of the movie “Groundhog Day.” A man is caught in a time warp. “At some point you will have to think about how serious you mean it from the British side.”

The government’s actions are doing great harm to Britain, said former Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Labor) of the BBC broadcaster. The law will be debated in the House of Commons starting Monday. Even from the House of Lords, a strong wind could blow toward Johnson’s plan. Brussels spoke of “an extremely serious violation of the Withdrawal Agreement and international law” if the law were passed.

Negotiations on the contract for the future relationship planned for 2021 are stalled anyway. The EU now wants to step up preparations for a “no deal”: if a contract is unsuccessful, there is the threat of a sharp economic breakdown with tariffs and other trade barriers on January 1.

Meanwhile, London is going ahead with its plans for the time after the final exit from the EU: Britain reached a trade agreement with Japan. This should apply from January 1, 2021, announced the Ministry of Commerce in London. The first agreement since leaving the European Union earlier this year ensured that 99 percent of British exports to the world’s third-largest economy would be duty-free. Trade with Japan could grow by around 15.2 billion pounds (about 16.5 billion euros) in the long term with the deal, he said.

The digital and data deals went “far” beyond the provisions of the EU’s trade agreement with Japan and supported British fintech companies operating in the Asian country, the ministry said.