‘Bad news for Europe’

• EU leaders now want a quick divorce and to move on to talks on trade accord
• Bloc’s leaders, like many British voters, tired of stop-start Brexit talks

EU leaders yesterday welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election triumph as a chance to put three years of Brexit frustration behind them, but the Czech premier spoke for many in the bloc when he said Brexit was “bad news for Europe”.

Leaders said they now wanted a quick divorce and to move on to talks on a free-trade accord with the EU, even if they are likely to be difficult.

“I’m relieved for my country,” Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said at an EU summit.

A so-called orderly Brexit with a transition period is crucial for investors and businesses who fear a “no-deal” departure would disrupt trade and financial markets.

“We expect a vote on the withdrawal agreement as soon as possible,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters, referring to the deal that Johnson and the EU struck setting the terms of Britain’s exit on Jan. 31, 2020.

 “It’s important to have clarity as soon as possible,” Michel said.

Leaders from Italy to the Netherlands echoed that sentiment, with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel saying: “Boris won the election by telling everyone he wants to deliver, so now it’s time to deliver.”

Senior German conservative lawmaker Norbert Roettgen, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said on Twitter that now the size of Johnson’s victory was clear “Brexit has become inevitable”.

EU leaders, like many British voters, have tired of stop-start Brexit negotiations and the three extensions to Britain’s departure date they have granted, although all deeply lamented the British decision to leave.

“It is obviously a giant success for Boris Johnson. He is a charismatic leader,” Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said.

“He won and now they will leave, unfortunately. That is bad news for Europe,” he said.

For many in Europe, Britain was seen as a pragmatic, free-trading nation whose position as one of the EU’s two military powers along with France gave the EU a bigger voice in the world.

But now the world’s biggest trading bloc is resigned to London leaving and wants to get on with unraveling more than 40 years of British membership, even if that is likely to take more than the 12 months that some in London are hoping for.

Leaders said the EU was ready to negotiate a free-trade agreement but called on London to work in good faith, underlining EU fears that Britain might try to reinvent itself as a low-regulation rival. 

“#EU is ready for the next phase. We will negotiate a future trade deal which ensures a true level playing field,” Michel tweeted.