Johnson likely to break his pledge as Brexit by December 2020 looks too ambitious

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who earlier pledged to take Britain out of European Union by the end of year 2020, is likely to break his promise as according to European Union Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, Brexit transition period would extend beyond 2020.

In an interview with the Irish Times, published Monday, Hogan said, “In the past, we saw the way the prime minister promised to die in the ditch rather than extend the deadline for Brexit, only for him to do just that.”

Johnson had previously committed to “die in a ditch” rather than extend an earlier deadline of October 31 to exit the bloc.

“I don’t believe Prime Minister Johnson will die in the ditch over the timeline for the future relationship either,” Hogan said. The recently appointed EU Trade Commissioner, who playa key role in the EU-UK talks on their future relationship, said that it was ‘very odd’ to impose any restriction on the Brexit extension and that it all seemed more like a political stunt.

Johnson, who regained power with a sweeping victory in this month’s general election, had his entire campaign based on the promise to ‘get Brexit done’. With Conservatives holding majority in the parliament, Johnson’s legislation to exit the bloc on January 31, 2020 got passed, surpassing its first parliamentary hurdle. But the bill, based on UK-EU withdrawal agreement would again be debated in the new year. It includes a provision that binds the planned transition period for Brexit to end by December 2020. Johnson said that he is confident of negotiating a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU before that deadline.

Hogan told the newspaper, “At first sight this seems very odd indeed. From our point of view it is important that we move from stunt to substance. It would be helpful if the focus was on content rather than timetables.”

He admitted that he was astonished at the UK’s exit decision and believed that the country hasn’t yet fully understood the implications of exiting the bloc.

He said, “Why trade a Rolls Royce for a second-hand saloon?”

Last week, Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, also expressed “serious concern” over Johnson’s limited timeframe assigned to decide the future course of relationship between EU and UK. Hogan, like Ursula, urged Johnson to reconsider the deadline more calmly.

Hogan said, “...Now that the political deadlock at Westminster is broken the next phase of Brexit needs to be based on realism and hard facts. Any ‘having our cake and eat it’ rhetoric will not fly. Both sides need to proceed calmly and coherently.”