Brexit: British PM Boris Johnson To Meet Merkel, Macron For New Deal

The proposed visit of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Berlin and Paris starting Wednesday to meet up with his French and German counterparts will keep the ball rolling on the shape of the Brexit ahead.

This will be Johnson’s first official foreign trip after becoming the PM in July. There is high curiosity about the unfolding scenario-whether the existing deal will prevail or get modified by both parties after talks or the U.K walk away with a no-deal Brexit the country out of EU on Oct.31.

Johnson is known as a hardliner on Brexit and has vowed to lead the country out of the EU even if it is no deal. He had been an arch opponent of the deal handed by the EU to Theresa May with its Irish backstop.

The EU plan of retaining the U.K in the EU Customs Union is completely unacceptable to Boris Johnson. Brexit news is that Johnson wanted the U.K. to leave the EU on October 31 “come what may.”

However, last-minute changes are still not ruled out.

The desire for a new deal amidst reports of disruption

Despite the public posturing of a no-deal, the desire for more negotiations with the EU leaders prevails within the new British government.

Johnson’s meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will be crucial in that respect.

The U.K. government is still defending its Brexit plans after a leaked report, entitled “Operation Yellowhammer” warned of serious disruption at ports and other misery.

It said a hard border with the Republic of Ireland and shortages of food, drugs, and fuel could be the aftermath of a “no-deal” Brexit, the report warned.

Johnson is also planning to speak to the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar and Donald Tusk, the European council president, according to reports.

Johnson will demand a new deal

As expected, Johnson will argue for a new Brexit deal when he meets the German and French counterparts. He will also communicate the U.K’s determination to leave the EU on October 31 with or without an agreement.

However, the EU has stated it will not renegotiate the terms of the withdrawal agreement with former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Upcoming G7 meeting and leaked German report

Meanwhile, the talks with EU leaders are seen as a prelude to upcoming G-7 leaders meeting in Biarritz in the last week of August where the world’s biggest economies will make a “reality check” on different Brexit plans with the U.K. leadership.

Johnson’s plan on a new deal Brexit implies persuading the EU to ditch its insistence on the Irish backstop.

Meanwhile, a leaked paper from the German government suggested that despite Johnson’s adamant stand to leave the EU on 31 October with or without a deal, Brussels has no plans for a rethink on the existing deal.

A leaked document prepared by officials attached o the German finance minister Olaf Scholz made clear that the German government believes the British government will walk away. But the EU has no plan of returning to the negotiating table on Johnson’s terms.

The reports in German newspaper Handelsblatt said the EU’s preparations are “largely complete” and bloc should hold its nerve on a no-deal pull out by the U.K.

Markets jittery on no-deal Brexit

Markets are jittery on a no-deal scenario under Johnson. The U.K‘s sovereign bond’s recent Inversion had also enhanced fears. The inversion showed longer-term interest rates as falling below shorter-term rates. Markets and investors see this as a harbinger of a recession waiting in the back yard.