The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, recalled on Thursday 25 July, in a telephone conversation with the new British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, that the withdrawal agreement negotiated between the EU and the British Government remained “the best and only possible agreement”, but that the Commission remained “at the disposal” of London in the coming weeks “to add language to the political declaration” (on future relations), reported the institution's spokesperson, Mina Andreeva.
In a formal speech earlier today to the House of Commons, Boris Johnson called on the EU to remove the backstop for Ireland. A request that the EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, immediately deemed “unacceptable” and contrary to the mandate of the European Council, as he wrote in an email sent to the Twenty-Seven, made public by the British media.
The new Prime Minister has surrounded himself with a ministerial cabinet fully committed to a 31 October exit from the EU, even without agreement – such as the Minister of Brexit, Stephen Barclay, who was reappointed to his post, or Dominic Raab, who was placed in Foreign Affairs – and has forced out the more moderate ministers. He has also already announced that he will not appoint a Commissioner for the United Kingdom for the next von der Leyen Commission.
Boris Johnson stressed that failure to leave the EU by 31 October would cause “a catastrophic loss of confidence in our political system”. Recalling that the agreement negotiated by Mrs May has been rejected three times, Boris Johnson denounced the terms “unacceptable” for the United Kingdom and called on the EU to abolish the ‘backstop’ for the island of Ireland.
On this subject, he considers “a time limit is not enough. If an agreement is to be reached, it must be clearly understood that the way to the deal goes by way of the abolition of the backstop”, said Boris Johnson, expressing his readiness to work quickly on it “as soon as the EU is ready” and to “negotiate in good faith an alternative, with provisions to ensure that the Irish border issues are dealt with where they should always have been: in the negotiations on the future agreement between the UK and the EU”. The Prime Minister said he hoped that the EU would be able to “review its current refusal” not to reopen the agreement and protocol on Ireland.
In the same speech, Boris Johnson said he preferred to reach an agreement, but if this was not the case, the country would leave the EU on 31 October. To this end, he asked Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to make preparations for a ‘no deal’ as his “top priority”.
For Michel Barnier, as he wrote in his email, this increased preparation for the ‘no deal’ must also be received carefully as it aims in part to “put pressure on the unity of the Twenty-Seven”. The negotiator has thus pleaded for calm and for Member States to stand behind their principles. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)