In Brussels on Wednesday 2nd October 2018, Prime Minister Boris Johnson presented a “compromise” of last chance to Europeans, as the date of Brexit approaches.
As the new official date for Brexit approaches inexorably, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson put pressure on Europeans on Wednesday 2 October 2019 in Brussels, warning them that the UK was ready for an exit from the EU without an agreement on 31st October in the event of rejection of a “compromise” presented by London.
Having come to power at the end of July with the promise to leave his country at any cost of the European Union, the head of the Conservative government has announced that he will present in the day in Brussels “reasonable and constructive proposals”, placing the ball in the European camp.
“Yes, the UK is making a compromise, and I really hope that our European friends will understand and compromise in turn,” he told his activists on the last day of the Conservative Party’s annual convention. Manchester (North West England).
If he has not gone into technical details, he warned that in case of rejection of his plan, the United Kingdom would leave the EU on 31 October “whatever happens”. He assured that in case of rejection of his plan, his country was “ready” for a “no-deal” , with potentially disastrous economic consequences, scary the London Stock Exchange.
The aim of the new offer, however, is to avoid a brutal exit by solving the Irish border puzzle to end a three-year saga that has plunged the United Kingdom into a deep political crisis.
This plan, the details of which were leaked were greeted coldly in Dublin, was not commented by Brussels pending the details are formalized. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was scheduled to speak on Wednesday at 3:15 pm with Boris Johnson.
In Berlin, a spokeswoman for the German government said the European Commission should study the project before making a decision. “It’s important to find a solution because time is running out,” she added.
Read also: Brexit: the UK “ready” for a “no deal”, the EU pessimistic
Customs controls?
At 29 days from the date scheduled for Brexit, the schedule is very tight to find a divorce agreement. That negotiated by Theresa May, predecessor of Boris Johnson, had been rejected three times by the British Parliament, particularly dissatisfied with the “safety net” (or “backstop” in English), mechanism to prevent the return of a border in Ireland between the British North Province and the EU Member State to the south after Brexit.
According to The Telegraph, the new British proposal provides for Northern Ireland to remain in the European single market until 2025, while forming a customs union with the United Kingdom. So there would be some kind of two borders: customs controls between the two Ireland and regulatory controls in the Irish Sea, which separates Great Britain from its Northern Irish province.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, on Sky News, said he was “not very encouraged” by this information: “If what he proposes is customs controls on the island of Ireland, then I do not think not that it will be the basis of an agreement “.
Boris Johnson again denied considering the return of such physical checks at the border, without explaining how he intended to resolve the issue.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the boss of the main British employers’ organization (CBI), said the British offer could not “be the final destination” because it would block Ireland “with barriers on all sides”.
Excited by the speech of Boris Johnson, the activist Rosemary Hardwicke (curators of the Isle of Wight) regrets that it did not have more detailed its offer in Brussels. “It’s just an idea, it seems to me. I do not think he said anything (…) that has not already been said.
In its current form, the backstop plans to keep the UK as a whole in a customs union with the EU, as well as further EU regulatory alignment for Northern Ireland.
The prospect of restoring a border between the two Ireland in the event of a “no-deal” particularly worries Dublin, which sees a threat to peace in Northern Ireland, difficult to establish in 1998 after three decades of violence between nationalist Republicans ( Catholics), supporters of the reunification of the island, and loyalists Unionists (Protestants), defenders of the maintenance in the British Crown.
Boris Johnson has warned that if the negotiations with the EU fail, he will not ask for a postponement of Brexit in Brussels. However, law requires him to ask for a further postponement if he does not reach an agreement with the EU by 19 October, just after the next EU summit.
