By Mark Cole-
EU negotiator, Guy Verhostadft, angrily referred to Boris Johnson as a traitor during an outburst at the European Parliament meeting
The Brexit negotiator for the EU was reacting to a press briefing giving by Downing Street in which the Union was said to be willing to torpido the Good Friday agreement, and Merkel had refused to allow Northern Ireland leave the Customs Union
Verhofstadt(pictured) said: “It is a blame game. A blame game against everybody. A blame game against the [European] union, against Ireland, against Mrs Merkel, against the British judicial system, against Labour, against Lib Dems, even Mrs May.
“The only one who is not to be blamed is Mr Johnson apparently. All those who are not playing his game are traitors, are collaborators, are surrenderers.
“The real traitor is he or she who risks bringing disaster on his country, its economy and its citizens by pushing Britain out of the European Union. That in my opinion is a traitor.”
Earlier, European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker had told MEPs that Downing Street were playing a blame game.: “We are not accepting this blame game which started in London. We are not to be blamed but we will see in the next coming days how things will develop.”
The EU are increasingly feeling hostile towards the Uk government over development in negotiations and what they see as dirty tactics coming from the Uk side. The briefing Nothing has of yet been presented to show that the briefings giving to journalists about Merkel’s call to Boris Johnson were false.
According to EU sources, the French representative in the meeting warned, in response, that “there can be no assumptions” about a free-trade deal with the UK after Brexit, given the British wish to remove all level playing field conditions, such as non-regression on environmental standards, from the withdrawal agreement.
In a forceful intervention, the point was made that free-trade agreements were always decided on a case-by-case basis with the final result not automatically certain.
Johnson’s government has promised a “best-in-class” deal with the EU and wants to end the UK’s close alignment with the bloc on standards regarding health, environment and workers’ rights.