Berlin, August 22: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has on Wednesday offered a 30-day ultimatum to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to deliver the Brexit backstop or take the United Kingdom out of the European Union (EU) without a deal.
According to Mirror UK news reports, as Johnson arrived in Berlin for his first official overseas visit after assuming the office as the prime minister, he reiterated his refusal to the Northern Ireland Backstop.
He said: “Clearly we cannot accept the current Withdrawal Agreement, arrangements that either divide the UK or lock us into the regulatory and trading arrangements of the EU, the legal order of the EU, without the UK having any say on those matters.
“So we do need that backstop removed. But if we can do that then I am absolutely certain that we can move forward together,” Johnson added.
However, Merkel appeared to term Johnson’s bluff, stating, “If one is able to solve this conundrum, if one finds this solution, we said we would probably find it in the next two years to come but we can also maybe find it in the next 30 days to come.”
She added, “Then we are one step further in the right direction and we have to obviously put our all into this.”
But a French official said: “The scenario that is now becoming the most likely is the no-deal scenario.
“If the United Kingdom considers that having a backstop is absolutely excluded, that is its right, but in that case it limits the possibility of reaching an agreement.”