From the days he fed anti-European sentiment with exaggerated stories in the newspapers, to his populist campaign that pushed Britain out of the bloc and renounced the post-Brexit trade deal he signed, the prime minister leaving the UK, Boris Johnson has been the evil of Brussels for all. so many years.
Such was his impact on breaking ties between Britain and the EU that after Johnson was forced to announce on Thursday that he would resign, the news caused little public jubilation in EU circles. Instead, there was only the dormant acceptance of the inevitable and the resignation that things will never be the same.
“I will not miss him,” said French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, highlighting an open contempt that had not been seen since Europeans welcomed the loss of Donald Trump in the 2020 US elections. And while transatlantic relations have recovered rapidly since the arrival of President Joe. Biden, don’t expect anything like this with a new British leader, politicians and experts said.
The story continues under the ad
Read more: Boris Johnson agrees to resign and will remain prime minister for the time being
“Even with a new prime minister, I think there will probably be few changes in the British government’s position” on the major Brexit problems caused by current divisions, said David McAllister, the EU’s leading legislator. of the United Kingdom.
Guy Verhofstadt, who was the EU’s top parliamentarian throughout the Brexit divorce process, said Johnson’s impact was such that there is little or no chance of another Conservative prime minister being able to head a course fundamentally. different.
“No one is excited that Johnson’s departure from Downing Street will solve any of the problems underlying the relationship between the UK and the EU,” Verhofstadt wrote in an opinion piece for The Guardian. “The harm done by the outgoing prime minister, through the project he instrumentalized to gain power, persists.”
1:40 ‘Them’s the breaks’: Boris Johnson resigns as British Prime Minister, will serve until November ‘Them’s the breaks’: Boris Johnson resigns as British Prime Minister, will act until November
The UK has always been a member of the EU halfway through since joining the bloc in 1973. When Johnson joined the Brussels press corps about three decades ago, he often captivated his home readers. with stories that had two fundamental elements: they put the EU in the darkness of the lights, and they had little connection to reality.
Trend stories
-
Rogers CEO apologizes and says “maintenance update” behind a major outage
-
The organizers of the convoy talked about playing the “race card” with Lich’s Métis legacy
The story continues under the ad
As a Conservative politician, he put his weight in the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership in the EU behind the arguments to leave the bloc. Johnson used his cheerful manner and joking style to sell the benefits of EU withdrawal, sometimes ignoring the facts. It was key to the Brexit campaign’s victory in the 2016 Brexit referendum vote.
However, the contempt was never so deep as earlier this year, when it began moves to unilaterally rewrite parts of the post-Brexit deal it signed with the 27-nation bloc. The agreement established a special system in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, so that trade with the Republic of Ireland _a member of the EU_ could continue without establishing a physical border.
“I was there face to face with him. Line by line, comma by comma, and he doesn’t want to respect it,” EU chief negotiator on Brexit Michel Barnier recalled on Friday, still baffled by Johnson’s tactics.
“The damage to reputation has been enormous for a country and a society that has long been proud of its deep culture of‘ My word is my bond ’without even a written contract, let alone a international treaty, “said Michael Emerson of the Center for Europe. Political studies.
Read more: Following the resignation of UK Boris Johnson, who could become the next prime minister?
The bill to unilaterally break the trade agreement in Northern Ireland is still in the House of Commons, and there is a lingering hope that London can push back from the limit.
The story continues under the ad
“They have this law in Parliament, so they are taking steps in that direction. But they have not crossed the line, “said Jan Lipavský, the Czech foreign minister, who holds the EU presidency and is better known in English as the Czech Republic.
However, a quick look at potential contenders to take over does not inspire hope for any fundamental change, as it includes several conservatives who have spent years delving into Johnson’s strategies for confronting Brexit.
“If we look at possible successors, there is no one who will break fundamentally with the Brexit line,” said Rem Korteweg, of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, The Netherlands. “The Conservative Party has a dominant core of Brexit that you have to convince to be prime minister.”
1:21 “I take full responsibility”: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responds to Partygate after a new independent report “I take full responsibility”: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson responds to Partygate after a new independent report – May 25, 2022
While the early years of Brexit have yielded anything but the reward Johnson promised, any possible attempt to return the UK to the EU is also as good as it is beyond doubt, with the main opposition Labor Party centering. -se now to get the best out of Brexit. situation instead.
The story continues under the ad
It’s not that the EU wouldn’t even want to welcome the country with open arms.
With Ukraine, inflation caused economic problems and migration problems, “their plate is full,” Korteweg said. “They’re not really waiting for talks with the British, who will look for exceptions and exemptions anyway,” he said.
Barnier, who for years led the EU into talks on Brexit, also does not see this happening.
“It’s not a problem in question,” Barnier told South Radio. “Quite frankly, what we need is a state of mind where the British government respects the treaties it negotiated.”
© 2022 The Canadian Press