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WWill Boris Johnson go down in history as the successor to Margaret Thatcher or John Major? The pro-government Daily Telegraph asked this question when it reported Tuesday on the prime minister’s upcoming visit to Brussels. The article reflected the ideas of the Conservative Party, which will likely be crucial to Johnson. On Tuesday, the head of government was satisfied with the phrase that hope dies in the end and promised to do everything in his power to reach an “agreement” with the European Union.
Margaret Thatcher’s biggest appearance in the EU from a British perspective was the successful demand for a premium discount for the Kingdom. John Major’s turning point came twelve years later when he accepted the so-called Maastricht Treaty, which entangled him in endless debates at home and ultimately sealed his political end. To this day, most conservatives regard Thatcher as a courageous defender of British interests, while Major is accused of having led the nation down the wrong path of political union, despite the exceptional rules that achieved at that time. They are mainly the older, opponents of the time, who now set the tone in the Conservative Party.
Brexit for “constitutional reasons”
One of them, former Defense Secretary Liam Fox, stressed on Tuesday that he had not voted for Brexit because of immigration policies or economic benefits. Rather, the focus was on “constitutional reasons”: “The kingdom must be able to determine its laws, no one else.” It describes the attitude that Johnson and his negotiator David Frost have been declaring for months at the baseline: the EU must accept that they agree to negotiate a “sovereign state”.
This applies to the dispute over fishing in British territorial waters, but even more so to the question of fair competition. Above all, London resists the requirement not only to have to orient itself to the applicable EU rules, but also to future rules. According to information from British negotiators, this demand was already off the table when it was surprisingly raised again by EU negotiator Michel Barnier last week and thus spoiled. “We cannot accept a dynamic adjustment. Period, ”Fox said.
Dispute over internal market legislation ended
Hardly anyone in London doubts that Johnson will travel to Brussels on Wednesday night to meet with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to avoid a “no-deal” outcome. But their freedom of movement is limited. Without the supporters of mineral Brexit, it has no majority in the lower house, and they want to achieve a “real Brexit” that forces Britain to comply with the fewest possible guidelines from Brussels. As soon as he returns to London from Brussels, Frost is supposed to provide the prime minister with an “overview of the remaining differences,” which he will then discuss with Ursula von der Leyen, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.
The talks are likely to have a more favorable note since the dispute over the controversial British internal market law ended. Johnson announced Monday that the House of Lords will accept the changes to the law if the UK and the EU reach an agreement in the so-called Joint Committee on the details of the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The passages deleted by the “Lords” place the interpretation of the Protocol on the responsibility of the British State, which is widely seen as a violation of international law. Regardless of his announcement, Johnson had MPs cancel the House of Lords changes Monday night.
On Tuesday, the Joint Committee announced a breakthrough in the talks and announced that the tickets in question would be withdrawn and that a new law on fiscal policy would no longer contain any clauses that could undermine the exit agreement. In British newspapers, a government source was quoted as saying that the European representatives on the committee were “constructive and pragmatic.” It might sound like this if the main negotiations for future relationships came to a happy ending.
