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Britain's European partners warned Boris Johnson on Friday that his uncompromising stance against Brexit put the UK on a "collision course" with the EU and called on the new prime minister to avoid "provocations". ".
Johnson plans meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the coming weeks, British officials said on Friday, saying the British prime minister insisted he would renegotiate the deal. divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Macron has issued an invitation to Johnson Thursday in the evening of his official summer holiday home in the south of France, where he is expected to stay for the next three weeks, an badistant said.
But in a sign of mistrust of Johnson's anti-European rhetoric, the French Minister of European Affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, urged the new British leader to create a working relationship with his continent's partners.
"On our side, we have to be responsible," she told France 2. "It means being clear, predictable and, on the other hand, you have to create a working relationship, it's not a problem. There are no games, postures, provocations. "
"Who will blink first?
Macron, who has said he is happy to be considered the "bad guy" in Brexit negotiations, should be a key player in the difficult and potentially angry talks of the coming months.
"Emmanuel Macron has had one of the strongest positions of European leaders in the negotiations," said Vivien Pertusot, research fellow at IFRI's Foreign Affairs Task Force and expert on Brexit.
"Nothing is going to force his hand and there is no reason to soften his position," he added.
Pertusot said that future negotiations would be marked by the "franchise" with particular attention to "which side will blink first".
Macron, a dedicated Europhile who seeks to deepen ties between EU members, regards Brexit as an act of self-harm by Britain and has strongly criticized Johnson personally in the past.
The timing of the meeting between Macron and Johnson was not clear. The British Prime Minister is due to travel to France to attend the meeting of the G7 developed countries in Biarritz on 24 and 26 August.
Merkel's office said Johnson had accepted the invitation of the 65-year-old German chancellor to go "quickly" to Berlin. No dates have been given.
& # 39; Show that we are not afraid & # 39;
Johnson insists that he wants to renegotiate a divorce agreement signed by his predecessor, Theresa May, over the past two years, to see him rejected by British MPs three times in Parliament.
Johnson has carved a reputation for bringing Britain out of the EU by October 31, which means that if new negotiations were denied, the UK will not go out of business. would collapse without an agreement being reached.
Prime Minister told Merkel that he was "energetic" in the search for an agreement, but he reiterated that Britain needed to "fully prepare" to leave without agreement on 31 October, said his spokesman.
The Irish Foreign Minister also said Friday that Johnson had deliberately put Britain on a "collision course" with the EU over Brexit talks.
"It seems to have taken a deliberate decision to place Britain in a confrontational position with the European Union and Ireland in the Brexit negotiations," said Simon Coveney, quoted by the broadcaster Irish RTE, Belfast.
In his first parliamentary speech as Prime Minister on Thursday, Johnson promised to continue plans to reopen the agreement with the EU.
"No agreement will ever be the choice of the EU, but we must all be ready for all scenarios," said Brexit Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier in an e-mail sent Thursday to the EU ambbadadors.
"In this negotiation, if we want to force the hand of Boris Johnson, we must be prepared not to negotiate and show that we are not afraid," added a European diplomat Thursday under cover of anonymity . "He needs to know that we are ready for a no-deal."
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