Johnson accepts the proposal of the EU on Brexit

The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, accepted on Monday the flexible extension until January 31st that his European partners have given him to carry out Brexit, emphasizing in a letter sent to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, that he will not accept new extensions.

In his letter, Johnson stressed that the new extension – the third one – has been “imposed” on his Government “against their will” and that he considers it “harmful to our democracy and to the relationship between us and our European friends.”

The Prime Minister made it clear that although he will not attempt to “deliberately disturb” the functioning of the EU in the additional months in which the United Kingdom remains as a member, he will continue to protect the interests of his country, “included in the EU decision-making.”

On the other hand, Johnson told Tusk that he would have liked Parliament to ratify the agreement reached two weeks ago. “Unfortunately, I fear that this Parliament will never do so as long as I have the option of continuing to delay it.”

Therefore, he added, he seeks the convening of early general elections to achieve a “new Parliament that is able to resolve the issue in accordance with our constitutional norms.” If he also opposed, he would demand that his European partners make it clear that “an additional extension after January 31st is not possible.”

According to Johnson, there is still “a lot of time” for the agreement to be ratified and to prevent the House of Commons from “extending our stay over and over again.”

“I really hope that we can soon leave this difficult period behind and move forward quickly to end our membership in the EU and begin negotiations on the future free trade agreement and the future friendship that will come with it,” said the minister, who will send a letter also to his community partners and to the presidents of the Commission and the European Parliament.

K. Tovar

Source: dpa