The European Union politely congratulated Boris Johnson on Tuesday, while reminding the next British Prime Minister, eager to reopen discussions on Brexit, that the withdrawal agreement was not renegotiable. His election as head of the conservative party, a stage for 10 Downing Street, was expected and Brussels was savoring the last days of his "Brexit break", a "break" during which the subject was put in brackets until the arrival of a new Prime Minister across the Channel.
But the reactions were fast. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker "wants to work in the best possible way" with Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "very eager to work with him". Coming to Paris, the next President of the European Commission, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen, however, insisted on "the challenges ahead" and warned against difficult times. She will take office on 1 November, the day after Brexit is due on 31 October.
An unpredictable partner
The EU will now deal with a determined and unpredictable partner: champion of pro-Brexit, Boris Johnson assured from his appointment that he would "implement the Brexit October 31", after hammering during his campaign that the divorce would take place at any cost, even leaving the EU without agreement. The new Prime Minister has not left good memories in Brussels: the time he was correspondent for the conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper in the early 1990s, he still presented the EU in a negative light.
"We look forward to working constructively"
"We look forward to working constructively with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, once in his post, to facilitate the ratification of the withdrawal agreement and allow an orderly Brexit," said Michel Barnier. The EU's chief negotiator has confirmed he is "ready to" rework the declaration on the new partnership, in line with the guidelines "defined by the member states.
A way to remind Boris Johnson the European position, irremovable since Theresa May approved in November a withdrawal agreement negotiated for eighteen months, but the British Parliament has failed to ratify: the EU does not want to reopen the text . The agreement lists the conditions for divorce, in particular the guarantee of citizens' rights, the settlement of the "bill" of the Brexit and especially the controversial "safety net" to ensure that there is no border between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit.
"A future Prime Minister must look reality in the eye"
First Vice-President Frans Timmermans did not miss a spike to the new British Prime Minister. "I would just like to look at what he has written over the last few years, and it has been a long time before he decides whether he is for or against Brexit," he said at a press conference. . "Now his position is clear, I think the position of the European Union is so clear," he said.
Behind the scenes, some diplomats doubted that a new prime minister would change the situation. "All of these ideas could work in an imaginary world, in the real world that means a no-deal with all its devastating consequences - if that's what the UK wants, it'll have it. a future Prime Minister must look reality in the eye and act accordingly, "said a diplomat on condition of anonymity.
One of his colleagues, who also prefers not to be named, felt that Boris Johnson's first trip would not be in Brussels, but in the main European capitals, "to seek allies". "But in the end he will need a unanimous position of 27. Therefore, any attempt to divide the EU should not succeed," he said. The Brexit monitoring group in the European Parliament has scheduled an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday with Michel Barnier "to respond to the election of Boris Johnson," said its president, MEP and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, on Twitter.