EU braces for no-deal Brexit or another delay under Boris Johnson

Thursday, 18 July 2019 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

ILE PHOTO - Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain's Conservative Party, attends a hustings event in Colchester, Britain - Reuters

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters): The European Union is bracing for either a no-deal Brexit or another delay if Boris Johnson becomes Britain’s prime minister next week with a pledge to renegotiate a deal the bloc says it will not reopen.

The three-year Brexit crisis could be about to deepen as Johnson’s pledge to leave the EU “do or die” – with or without a deal – on Oct. 31 sets Britain on a collision course with the bloc’s 27 other leaders and his own parliament.

Such is the concern about the likely impact on the $18.7 trillion EU economy that European capitals are ramping up pressure on Ireland to accelerate preparations for a no-deal exit that could roil financial markets and dislocate trade.

The mood in Europe is dark.

“If they come and ask us to renegotiate the Brexit deal, we will say ‘Thanks, but no thanks’,” said an EU diplomat involved in what is now three years of talks since the 2016 referendum in which Britons voted 52%-48% to leave the bloc.

Johnson and his rival for the leadership of the ruling Conservative Party Jeremy Hunt both said on Monday they were not willing to accept the so-called Irish backstop element of Theresa May’s Brexit deal, even if a time limit was set.

If the winner, to be announced on July 23, sticks to that pledge it makes the chances of a European compromise all but impossible before the Brexit deadline.

The bloc’s priority is to support EU member Ireland and prevent a return to the 30 years of violence between mostly Protestant unionists who want to keep Northern Ireland British and mainly Catholic nationalists seeking a united Ireland.

Brexit end game?

A no-deal Brexit could tip Britain into recession, undermine sluggish euro zone growth and weaken London’s claim to be the world’s pre-eminent international financial centre.

Sterling plunged to a 27-month low against the dollar on Tuesday as Johnson and Hunt vied for the hardest Brexit stance, trying to win over Conservative party members keen for a clean break with the EU.