UK PM: EU 'a bit negative', but deal is possible

(20 Aug 2019) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday accused the European Union of being "a bit negative" about the Brexit negotiations, adding it was going "to take a little patience" to break the deadlock.

Speaking on the eve of his visit to Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Johnson also reiterated his calls for the Northern Irish backstop to be removed from the Withdrawal Agreement.

The former Foreign Secretary, who took over as Prime Minister of Great Britain in July, is a staunch Brexiteer and has repeatedly asserted he will take the UK out of the EU in October 31 with or without a divorce deal.

Referring to former Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal which failed to pass through parliament three times, Johnson said it "simply didn't work for the UK."

"We can't have this backstop," he added, saying that under no "circumstances will the UK be putting in any kind of checks at the border in Northern Ireland."

The British government has said that as of Sept. 1 it would stop attending all EU meetings where its vital interests were not at stake.

The EU, which is not known for its speedy diplomacy, took only half a day to rebuff a four-page proposal by Johnson on breaking a deadlock over ensuring a transparent border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The bloc said one key part of the proposal was "incorrect" and another "misleading."

In the diplomatic note from the EU Commission and Council to the EU's remaining 27 nations, which was obtained by The Associated Press, the member states were strongly urged not to give in to Johnson's demand that the legal withdrawal agreement the EU negotiated with his predecessor, Theresa May, be changed at this late stage.

Johnson demanded late Monday that the EU re-open Brexit negotiations, scrapping "anti-democratic" provisions for the Irish border that he said would threaten the peace process in Northern Ireland.



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