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Boris Johnson says no UK leader could accept EU terms
The premier’s team hopes the face-to-face conversation with the European Commission president will inject political impetus into the deadlocked process.
Boris Johnson said no British prime minister could accept the European Union’s Brexit demands as he prepared to head to Brussels for a showdown with the European Commission’s Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday.
The premier’s team hopes the face-to-face conversation with the European Commission president will inject political impetus into the deadlocked process.
If the dinner goes well, negotiators could be back in a room hammering out the details within hours. If it goes badly, officials on both sides fear the chances of an agreement being ready before the end of December -- when the Brexit transition period expires -- will fade away.
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Boris Johnson ruled out agreeing to the EU’s existing proposals on fisheries and enforcement of fair competition rules for businesses. That came after Germany’s Angela Merkel said any UK-EU trade deal will hinge on agreeing to regulations on competition applying in future.
“Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply or don’t follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate,” Johnson told members of Parliament. “They’re saying we should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don’t believe that those are terms any prime minister of this country should accept.”
He also said “a good deal is still there to be done” and that he was looking forward to discussing it with von der Leyen at dinner.
