The prospect of a Brexit agreement is “touch and go”, but a failure of an agreement would be the fault of the European Union, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Johnson, who used the G7 summit in Biarritz to hold talks with the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said he believes there is a good chance of reaching agreement after a diplomatic round with meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France “improve”. President Emmanuel Macron.
But he refused to repeat his earlier claim that the odds of a no-deal outcome were a million to one.
“It all depends on our Eu friends and partners, I think in recent days there has been a dawning realization in Brussels and other European capitals of what the problem is for the UK,” he told the BBC.
“I think it will touch and go, but the most important thing is to be ready to come out without a deal.”
In a series of radio interviews, Mr. Johnson confirmed that if there is no deal, he would withhold most of the $ 39 billion (€ 42.7 billion) divorce bill.
“I think what the whole European Union understands is that if we get out without a deal, the $ 39 billion will not be pledged,” he told Sky.
Mr. No Deal
If there was a no-deal Brexit, he would “guarantee” that people would still be able to get medicines, adding that he considered it “highly unlikely” that there would be food shortages.
Before the summit, Mr. Tusk asked Mr. Johnson to not go down in history as “Mr. No Deal.” The Prime Minister told Sky: “The people who will not be responsible for any deal are not in the UK, we do not want a deal.”
Following talks with Mr Tusk, Downing Street said that Mr Johnson had told the President-in-Office: “We will work energetically and determinedly to achieve a better agreement and we are very willing to sit down to discuss it with the EU and the Member States Speak what needs to be done to “this is not the name of the world.”
An EU official said that the meeting reaffirmed well-known positions and that Brussels had hoped for “new elements to defuse the situation”.
Johnson said US President Donald Trump was “very gung-ho” about an important trade agreement between Britain and the US after the first official meeting of the two leaders yesterday.
The prime minister was praised by the US president as a “real man for the job” of implementing Brexit and was promised a “very big trade deal” as they met on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
But Mr. Johnson downplayed the prospects for a transatlantic degree within a year, as he believes Washington wants it. He warned against a deal with the “protectionist” US, which would not “just sail”.
Both Heads of State and Government wanted to emphasize their desire for a trade agreement following the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
The US President mentioned that they’re going to make a huge trade deal bigger than they’ve ever had with Britain, and now they’re not going to have the obstacle, they will not anchor around their knuckles, because that’s what They have.”
But Mr. Johnson has addressed a number of areas in which he wants concessions from Washington.
Mr. Trump said he wanted to make a deal “fast” because he had been “stymied” by Theresa May in the past.