Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come out with his ‘final’ Brexit proposals, warning European Union (EU) leaders that the United Kingdom will walk out without a deal on October 31 if the latter does not accept his terms. The plan includes several basic provisions, including a potential four-year time limit that EU leaders have rejected in the past.
Johnson’s new solution, however, has reportedly evoked a cool response from Brussels. After having a telephonic conversation with Johnson, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker pointed to “problematic points that will need further work in the coming days”.Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come out with his 'final' Brexit proposals, warning European Union (EU) leaders that the United Kingdom will walk out without a deal on October 31 if the latter does not accept his terms. The plan includes several basic provisions, including a potential four-year time limit that EU leaders have rejected in the past.#
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Mr. Johnson's proposals “do not fully meet the agreed objectives,” although he promised to “study them in further detail”.
“The first assessment of nearly every member in the BSG [Brexit steering group of the European Parliament] was not positive at all,” according to BSG head Guy Verhofstadt, who suggested the UK offer was not a serious attempt at reaching a deal but an effort to shift blame for failure to Brussels, according to global newswires.
EU officials and British opponents of Brexit fear economic chaos, if the United Kingdom ends its 46-year membership of the European Union without a formal divorce agreement.
Mr. Johnson said the sides had until October 11 to hammer out the main outlines of a compromise so it could be included on the agenda of a EU leaders' summit in Brussels on October 17-18.
Proposing his own temporary customs arrangements, Johnson told Juncker the EU-backed backstop arrangement for the Irish border was ‘a bridge to nowhere’. As per Johnson's plans, Northern Ireland could temporarily continue to follow EU regulations.
The UK government also announced on October 2 it would suspend parliament from October 8 to 14 so that Queen Elizabeth II could set out the government's new programme.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)