Boris Johnson received by Macron, holding firm on Brexit

Paris (AFP)

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets in Paris on Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to reaffirm France's steadfastness to Brexit's demands for renegotiation.

For the second leg of his first tour abroad since coming to power in late July, Johnson will be received at lunch at the Elysee. The reception may be less conciliatory for "BoJo" than the one that had been reserved, the day before in Berlin, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Merkel had found it possible to find "in the next thirty days" an agreement with London to avoid a non-negotiated divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union on 31 October.

Conversely, Macron said on Wednesday that "renegotiation in terms proposed by the British is not an option that exists, and this has always been stated very clearly by EU negotiator Michel Barnier. .

"I am waiting for clarifications from Boris Johnson," said the French president, while wishing that the discussions with London on the Brexit are "the most friendly and brotherly" possible.

Macron said a "hard Brexit", without an agreement by 31 October, "would be the responsibility of the British government", which "always has the possibility until the last second to withdraw Article 50", on which rests Brexit.

- The bill remains due -

Earlier, the French presidency had expressed reservations about the chances of avoiding a "hard Brexit", widely feared by the business community on both sides of the Channel, saying that "today, the central scenario of Brexit is that of no-deal ".

The Elysee had also reaffirmed that even if there is no agreement, the bill of 39 billion pounds (43 billion euros) that London owes to the EU under the Brexit will remain due.

Discussions on a UK negotiated exit from the EU bloc are currently hitting the so-called "safety net" mechanism provided for in the London-EU agreement of November 2008, but subsequently rejected by Parliament several times British.

This controversial provision is a kind of "insurance policy" for the EU. It aims to prevent the emergence, after Brexit, of a new border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the south, at the risk of waking up the conflict on the island.

The "safety net", or "backstop", would have the consequence of keeping the whole of the United Kingdom in the Customs Union with the EU countries until the two partners find a solution to define their future post-Brexit relationship, and this in about two years.

Boris Johnson made it clear by letter earlier this week that he was opposed to this mechanism and called on EU countries to reopen the negotiations.

For Europeans, the priority is to safeguard the "integrity of the European market" and "the stability of Ireland" on the basis of the "Good Friday Agreement", the peace agreement signed in Northern Ireland in 1998, insisted Wednesday Emmanuel Macron.

In Berlin, Johnson repeated that he did not want to hear about the "backstop". The United Kingdom "can not accept" the agreement negotiated between the EU and London as the controversial mechanism will keep Britain "a prisoner" of the EU's legal framework.

So far, Boris Johnson has been entitled on the subject only rebuffs of key European leaders, including the part Tuesday of the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk.

The British government chief's diplomatic marathon will end in Biarritz, France, with the Conservative leader's first participation in a G7 summit, marked in particular by an interview with US President Donald Trump, a strong supporter of a Brexit without concession.

burx-rock / mf

© 2019 AFP