Few in Brussels will miss Boris Johnson, a politician whom many already knew from his days as a correspondent and who, once Brexit was consummated, has brought relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom to their lowest point in history with the threat of not complying with the agreements signed on its application in Northern Ireland.
Stuck in the classic “no comment” as the only answer to all questions about the political situation on the other side of the channel, a British journalist yesterday tried to scratch some more reaction from the spokesmen of the European Commission and was interested in whether they had ordered bottles of extra champagne to celebrate Johnson’s downfall. “I do not think so. The consumption of alcoholic beverages in the European Commission is very limited”, replied Johannes Bahrke, one of the spokespersons for Ursula von der Leyen’s team, with a pretended laconic air.
Although in the community institutions, as in all the European chancelleries, the hectic political movements of the last few hours in London have been followed with interest and even unspoken delight, the public reaction has been one of absolute indifference. There has been no comment on the crisis by any community official. Nor from Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the Commission and head of the Brexit negotiations, who had been letting Johnson’s invitations to a direct clash with his proposals to unilaterally annul parts of the protocol on Northern Ireland pass for weeks.
The experience of the community executive with the long list of British Brexit negotiators who have traveled to Brussels since he did not prevail in the referendum in 2016 explains the fatalism with which the replacement of the prime minister is now seen. “We have always thought that with the next one things would go better but it has never been like that,” commented European sources in December after the resignation of David Frost, the sixth person to assume the position.
As feared in Brussels, relations have not been better with his successor, Liz Truss, foreign minister as well as Brexit negotiator. Among the Conservatives who have run to succeed Johnson is Suella Braverman, the country’s former attorney general, the author of the legal opinion that assured Downing Street that it was perfectly legal to skip parts of the agreement to leave the European Union. “Next to her, Thatcher was the sister of Jean Monnet,” comment European sources, who nonetheless see Johnson’s departure as positive. “One of his main problems was his lack of respect for the agreements signed, negotiated or signed by himself or his government, something unheard of in international relations between democracies.”
Although what really worries the European Union is the underlying position on post-Brexit relations, and from this point of view the situation is not particularly encouraging either. If David Cameron, in the end, called the referendum on leaving the EU with the intention of resolving the internal crisis in his party, he not only lost it but released his most anti-European instincts. Beyond the schadenfreude of some, the joy at the misfortune of others, there is little to toast in Brussels if you look at London.
