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Now Brussels responds to Johnson’s provocation
| Reading time: 5 minutes
“The island becomes the island of the economically damned”
British Prime Minister Johnson openly threatens that talks on a follow-up deal will collapse after leaving the EU. When it comes to a no-deal, capital market analyst Robert Halver clearly says: “Of course, Europe cannot allow that to happen.”
The EU Commission calls a special meeting on the Brexit bill. Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s bulldozer behavior is puzzling and could lead to a no-deal Brexit.
yesOris Johnson’s controversial Brexit bill had just been posted on the British Parliament’s website and the answer was already coming from Brussels. “We are very concerned about the British government’s announcements that they intend to break the exit contract,” said the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Doing so would violate international law and undermine trust. “Pacta sunt servanda = the basis of future successful relationships,” wrote the German on Twitter.
His deputy commissioner Maros Sefcovic had already requested a special meeting from London. The same joint committee that was created by the exit agreement should take up the matter. Sefcovic chairs it together with British Minister Michael Gove. Words of warning also came from Berlin: “The exit agreement is binding,” said a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Confusion: Boris Johnson on his way to the British Parliament
What: REUTERS
Europeans have no answer on what consequences the recent provocation in London could have. In the end, no one wants to give the British the model for the narrative that the EU is responsible for the collapse of the negotiations, which are now entering the final phase.
Especially since the consequences of what Prime Minister Johnson wants to make into completely surprising law could be dire. “Kamikaze” called the government unmistakably angry at Dublin Johnson’s actions on Wednesday. The draft of the “British internal market” presented in the House of Commons stipulates that London will unilaterally determine when it will notify the EU Commission on state aid for companies in Northern Ireland. According to the contract, this is regulated by a special working group made up of both parties.
Under the contract, special rules also apply to goods going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Because these can also potentially enter the European internal market thanks to the open border with Ireland, a member of the EU, they must be declared. Johnson also wants to question that once and for all, despite the fact that he negotiated and signed these commitments himself in October 2019 and, after winning the election last year, brought them to the British Parliament with great uproar.
An election, just as a reminder, that Johnson won with the slogans “Let’s end Brexit” and “We have a deal ready for the oven.” Voters took him away, Johnson won the largest majority for the Conservatives since 1987. He has 80 seats more than the opposition in the lower house.
His MPs will now have to put up with bitter questions when they vote on the internal market law in the coming weeks. Why does your prime minister suddenly dislike the “oven-ready deal” when he signed it less than a year ago? And how can conservative MPs pass a law in conscience that their own government sees as a violation of international law?
“Yes, the law violates international law in a very specific and limited way,” Northern Ireland Minister Brandon Lewis admitted Tuesday without blinking. Words you read from a template that most likely came straight from Downing Street. “How can the government now ensure that our future international partners trust the UK to comply with the legal obligations it has signed?” Asked an angry Theresa May, who, as Johnson’s predecessor, was instrumental in negotiating the deal. output.
At the time, May had refused to accept the EU’s proposal for checks to be carried out between Northern Ireland and Great Britain so that the land border between the Republic of Ireland and British Northern Ireland can remain open. “No British prime minister could ever question the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom,” the conservative insisted on state principles. Principles Johnson threw slightly overboard as Prime Minister a few months later. He agreed to a slightly different version of the same plan with the Europeans and won the general election by a large margin.
The charged political atmosphere in London inevitably brings back memories of September 2019. At the time, Johnson had sent the House of Commons into a forced recess. A process almost unknown in British history that sparked protests at home and astonishment abroad.
Johnson wanted to prevent the House of Commons, which at the time still had a slew of Brexit opponents, from further delaying leaving the EU. The prime minister was defeated by the Supreme Court after previously saying he would implement his ruling but disagreed with him.
Johnson’s attack on state institutions is now followed by an attack on international law. In a contract that he signed with the EU and deposited with the United Nations. At the time, his staunch support for Brexit brought him a landslide victory and hundreds of thousands of new voters in the former Labor regions.
So what is Boris Johnson aiming for with his brutal course this time around? If the EU interrupts the talks as a result of London’s violation of the law, it will give the British a no-deal Brexit on a silver platter. After all, doubts are mounting in London that Johnson really wants a deal with the EU. “We are not yet that far away to throw pieces at the feet of the British,” an EU diplomat told WELT. The temperature is high and confidence is also damaged. But the British government can still change. “
