Johnson May Be Finished but the Damage He Did Lives On

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: A new UK premier must start forming partnerships within Europe and ditch the destructive populism that led to Brexit

Boris Johnson with Donald Trump. The populist politics both men adopted is now exposed as discredited and exhausted. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
For all the talk by nationalists about how much they value unity, democracy and tradition, nationalism always turns out to be the most divisive, undemocratic and disrespectful political principle imaginable.

The Brexit variety is no different. It was entirely predictable that it would not so much liberate a sovereign nation from its supposed European shackles as unleash a political elite from any constraints whatsoever.

Now that Boris Johnson’s premiership has ended in disgrace and he has been exposed for what he is and what everyone knew he was, there is a sense of relief in Brussels. And sure, there is some schadenfreude on the continent that he has finally got his comeuppance.

But no one is under any illusion that Johnson’s departure from Downing Street solves any of the underlying problems in the UK/EU relationship. Because the damage done by the outgoing prime minister, through the project that he instrumentalised to achieve power, lives on.

On the economy, it lives on to the point where even Labour finds it impossible to distance itself from the core problem now harming the UK Brexit itself.

Trying to “make Brexit work” the slogan that Labour leader Keir Starmer uses when he rules out a future return to British membership, might be a political imperative for at least another generation. But it is still economic and illogical nonsense.

No amount of tinkering with the practical details of Brexit can remedy the fundamental incoherence it creates. Self-imposed isolation from your nearest and biggest trading partner harms small businesses as they try to trade with customers in neighbouring countries, prompts big companies to seek to invest elsewhere and dismembers labour markets to the detriment of both employers and job-seekers. » | Guy Verhofstadt | Friday, July 8, 2022

Have you ever wondered what a brace of tw*ts looks like? Wonder no longer! Take a look at the picture above! That’s what a brace of tw*ts looks like! As if one tw*t wasn’t enough! We had to suffer through a pair of them: one that side of the Atlantic; the other, this side. – © Mark Alexander

EU Condemns ‘Sinister’ Move to Suspend UK Parliament

THE GUARDIAN: Guy Verhofstadt says five-week suspension unlikely to deliver stable future relationship

European sources have warned that Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament for five weeks has increased the chances of a no-deal Brexit, while a leading MEP said: “Taking back control has never looked so sinister.”

The plan to suspend parliament for five weeks, which would drastically reduce MPs’ ability to influence changes to the withdrawal agreement or seek a delay, is seen in Brussels as a move to overpower rebels and force through Johnson’s Brexit agenda.

The European parliament’s coordinator on Brexit, Guy Verhofstadt, said the move was unlikely to deliver a stable future relationship. “‘Taking back control’ has never looked so sinister,” he wrote. “As a fellow parliamentarian, my solidarity with those fighting for their voices to be heard. Suppressing debate on profound choices is unlikely to help deliver a stable future EU-UK relationship.” » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Boris Johnson’s Threat of a No-deal Brexit Will Not Break EU Unity

THE GUARDIAN: The UK government should look instead to changing – but not discarding – the backstop

No matter what Boris Johnson or his new Vote Leave cabinet threaten – and the expectation in Brussels is that no-deal planning will be ramped up in an attempt to intimidate other EU countries – be in no doubt: there isn’t time to limit the damage of a sudden severance from the world’s largest trading block this Halloween.

Unless a further extension is requested, or article 50 is revoked by 31 October, when the current extension of UK membership expires, a dramatic shock awaits the global economy and we all stand to lose. The few who may prosper are the wealthy bankers and hedge fund managers who have bet on chaos.

It is fiction to talk of rewards for citizens or mini-deals to mitigate the damage. Faced with a British government intent on ratcheting up talk of no deal, other European governments have no choice but to prepare for the worst, too – but this is far from a desirable path. In the face of such irresponsible posturing, far from feeling threatened, I fully expect EU governments to remain calm and keep their unity. Attempts to put pressure on Ireland will only be met with waves of solidarity from the rest of the EU. » | Guy Verhofstadt* | Wednesday, July 31, 2019

* Guy Verhofstadt is Brexit coordinator for the European parliament

Boris Johnson’s Talk of ‘Global Britain’ Is about to Look Even More Ridiculous

THE GUARDIAN: While the favourite to be Britain’s next prime minister feeds his public disinformation, the EU is homing in on a huge trade deal

Three years after the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum, the UK is no closer to figuring out how to leave the European Union – and what comes next – than it was when the result was announced. And now a Conservative party leadership election to replace the outgoing prime minister, Theresa May, is in full swing. To those of us watching from the outside, the debate between the candidates confirms that they have learned nothing whatsoever from the past two years of negotiations with the EU.

Sadly, this comes as no surprise, given that the lead candidate is Boris Johnson, the leave campaign’s most prominent architect and a man who continues to dissemble, exaggerate and disinform the public about Brexit. In 2016, Johnson and his fellow Brexiteers duped a narrow majority of UK voters into thinking that leaving the EU would somehow furnish the NHS with an additional £350m per week. He also drummed up fears that Britain’s EU membership would somehow lead to mass immigration from Turkey(which happens to be the homeland of his paternal great-grandfather, Ali Kemal).

Though Johnson will most likely soon find himself in a position where he must make good on his promises, he continues to spread untruths. Chief among them is the myth that Britain can tear up the withdrawal agreement that May negotiated with the EU, withhold its financial commitments to the bloc, and simultaneously start negotiating free-trade deals. To Johnson’s followers, however, he is more prophet than politician: only he can deliver a mythical “true Brexit” that will bring the prosperity promised during the referendum campaign. » | Guy Verhofstadt | Thursday, June 27, 2019

Boris Johnson's Brexit Deal Claims Rubbished by Guy Verhofstadt

THE GUARDIAN: EU Brexit coordinator likens Tory frontrunner’s claims to ‘false promises’ of referendum

Boris Johnson’s claims about the prospects of rewriting the Brexit deal have been compared by the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator to the “false promises, pseudo-patriotism and foreigner-bashing” he is said to have used to win the EU referendum.

The suggestion from the Conservative leadership frontrunner that he will be able to dump Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, withhold the UK’s £39bn divorce bill and still negotiate a free-trade deal in Brussels was savaged by Guy Verhofstadt.

The former prime minister of Belgium said Johnson’s assertion during the current leadership campaign was a myth. In a withering assessment of the race between Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, who also claims he will be able to renegotiate the deal, Verhofstadt said it appeared they had “learned nothing whatsoever”.

The EU has repeatedly said it will not renegotiate the agreement and that the UK will crash out unless the House of Commons ratifies the full package, including the protocol containing the Irish backstop for avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. » | Daniel Boffey in Helsinki | Thursday, June 27, 2019

Europe Must Never Repeat Brexit, Says Guy Verhofstadt

THE GUARDIAN: EU parliament representative says process has done ‘far more damage than ever predicted’

The European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, has warned that the UK’s decision to leave the EU has already done “far more damage than has ever been predicted”.

Appearing alongside the Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, at a European election campaign event in Camden, north London, on Friday morning, the leader of the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe said he wanted to send a message to people on the continent to “never repeat Brexit again”. » | Frances Perraudin | Friday, May 10, 2019

Guy Verhofstadt Compares Nigel Farage to Blackadder Character

The EU's Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt said he was surprised to see former UKIP leader Nigel Farage sitting in European Parliament in Strasbourg. Saying 'I thought you were marching 200 miles for the leave campaign? How many did you do? Two miles'. The former Belgian prime minister Verhofstadt later compared Farage to Field Marshal Haig from Blackadder. Explaining that Farage was 'sitting safely in his office, while his people are walking in the cold and the rain'

EU Faces Nationalist ‘Nightmare’ in Next Five Years, Says Verhofstadt

THE GUARDIAN: Leader of liberal MEPs says elections in May are ‘last chance’ to fight populism

The European Union risks a populist-nationalist “nightmare” by the middle of the next decade unless centrists can win greater public backing for the European cause, the liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt has said.

Elections this May could herald a big shake-up of the European parliament. The duopoly of centre-right and centre-left is expected to lose its majority for the first time in 40 years of direct elections although Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche (La REM) is expected to win seats for the first time, boosting liberal forces.

Verhofstadt, the leader of the European parliament’s Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) since 2009, said pro-European centrists had “a last chance” after the vote to wrest back ground from nationalists and populists before the next electoral contest in 2024.

In an interview with the Guardian and five continental papers, the former Belgian prime minister said the EU needed an overhaul – managing the eurozone, migration and common defence – if it was to gain greater public support.

“Nothing is eternal. Nothing. Not all political institutions are eternal. To reform is a duty that we have … and if if we fail, then the tragedy, the nightmare will become reality,” he said. » | Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Guy Verhofstadt: Biggest Waste of EU Resources Is Nigel Farage's Salary

Guy Verhofstadt: 'UK Will Return to EU after Brexit Tory Catfight'

EU's chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt says he's "100% convinced the UK will return to the European family" and called Brexit a "Tory cat-fight that got out of hand".

After Brexit: The Battle for Europe - BBC News

Katya Adler meets some of the leaders of the populist Eurosceptic movements and some of the EU’s top Eurocrats and politicians to ask whether the union can survive, or will it be swept away by a populist revolution?

European Parliament’s Chief Brexit Negotiator - Guy Verhofstadt

HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Belgium's former Prime Minister and current MEP Guy Verhofstadt, an EU politician who'll be at the heart of the complex negotiations over a Brexit deal.
Listen to this here

US under Trump among External Threats to EU – Council President Tusk

European Council President Donald Tusk has called the US under President Donald Trump one of the external threats to the EU along with China, Russia and radical Islam.

Guy Verhofstadt: Theresa May's 'Cherry Picking' On Brexit Will Not Work - BBC Newsnight

In an exclusive interview for BBC Newsnight, the chief Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt spoke to Evan Davis about Donald Trump, the EU's "existential" crisis and how he sees Brexit negotiations developing.

Brexit Negotiator Warns Donald Trump Poses 'Third Threat' to EU

THE GUARDIAN: Guy Verhofstadt says EU project being undermined by US president along with Vladimir Putin and Islamic extremism

Donald Trump and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, are determined to break up the European Union, and are working to stage exit referendums in Berlin and Paris, Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, has said.

He claimed Trump represented the third threat to the EU alongside Vladimir Putin and Islamic extremism, adding that the US president’s call to organise the continent of Europe around national identity risked playing with fire. » | Patrick Winter, Diplomatic Editor | Monday, January 30, 2017

Can the EU Survive the Populist Wave? - UpFront

With the eurozone still an economic mess, the rise of anti-EU parties and the UK on the way out, the European Union may be in trouble.

Brexit: Can the UK Get a Better Deal? - UpFront

With the UK set to withdraw from the European Union in early 2019, many are fearing the consequences for both Britain and Europe. Will the negotiations leave a lingering sense of resentment between them?

Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's chief negotiator settling terms of the UK's withdrawal, says the EU is not "looking for revenge" and the terms won't be "punitive".

"What we are looking for is a fair agreement in which you can never have outside the European Union a better status than as member of the European Union," says Verhofstadt, who served as prime minister of Belgium.

Asked why 52 percent of Britons voted to leave, Verhofstadt blamed internal partisan politics and anti-immigrant sentiment.

In this web extra, Mehdi Hasan talks Brexit with MEP and European Parliament negotiator Guy Verhofstadt.

Guy Verhofstadt Plenary Speech on State of the Union 2016 (September 14)

"L'Europe doit revenir à la multiculturalité"
LE MONDE: La Belgique a inquiété ses partenaires européens au cours des derniers mois. Chef d'un gouvernement intérimaire, êtes-vous, alors que votre pays se lance dans un nouveau débat institutionnel, en mesure de les rassurer ?

Ce n'est pas le fait que la réforme des institutions belges soit en discussion qui a étonné. Le fédéralisme est, partout, un phénomène évolutif. Nos voisins se sont en revanche demandé pourquoi, à cause de cela, nous n'arrivions pas à former un gouvernement doté des pleins pouvoirs. Voilà pourquoi j'ai voulu distinguer les deux chapitres et former rapidement une équipe ministérielle, première étape vers la résolution de la crise. La deuxième étape est la discussion sur l'avenir institutionnel.

Notez qu'en 2007 notre bilan a été très bon : la croissance a progressé, le chômage a baissé à 7,3 %, les investissements étrangers ont battu des records et notre dette publique a continué à fondre. Seul le budget a légèrement dérapé avec un déficit public de 0,3 %, le premier après huit années d'équilibre. Mais je sais bien que la vraie question est de savoir si nous arriverons à conclure un nouvel accord institutionnel et à donner de la stabilité au futur gouvernement et à notre pays.

L'exercice est-il possible ?

Je crois qu'il sera très différent des précédents. La Belgique était un pays unitaire qui a évolué vers le fédéralisme en transférant de nombreux moyens financiers et en donnant une large autonomie aux régions et communautés. Cela a engendré vingt années de stabilité politique et permis de résoudre la situation dramatique de nos finances publiques. Cette fois, je crois qu'il faut aussi renforcer l'Etat fédéral : ce n'est pas seulement avec un roi et un premier ministre que l'on stabilise une structure comme la nôtre. On peut transférer des compétences, notamment dans le domaine socio-économique, pour viser l'efficacité. Mais, parallèlement, il faut envisager une circonscription électorale fédérale - pour créer une classe politique et une opinion fédérales -, adapter le système de financement et améliorer la coopération entre les entités fédérées. J'ai remis au roi un rapport en ce sens, afin de décrisper une situation qui avait épuisé les participants mais n'avait finalement pas donné de résultat. "L'Europe doit revenir à la multiculturalité" >>>

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