(Newswire.net — September 18, 2019) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said huge progress was being made towards reaching a Brexit agreement between the EU and the UK, which he compared to the Hulk, the Times reports.
Johnson said that before he becomes the Prime Minister of the UK, everyone was saying that no agreement could be achieved. However, the EU leaders “changed their minds,” Johnson said.
The truth however is quite the opposite. EU and the UK cannot agree on how to avoid re-establishing the physical border between Ireland, a member state of the Union that does not want to exit the EU. The same is with the British province of Northern Ireland which London would like to remain the same as before joining the EU.
The thing is that after Brexit, nothing will be same again and there is the possibility of reviving old confrontations.
London also rejected the economy security measure included in the current agreement, the so-called backstop, while the EU considers it necessary because there is no other credible alternative. Backstop predicts that Britain will remain in the single customs market with the EU unless a better solution is found after a certain transitional period.
Johnson has already denied that he will seek a three-month postponement of Brexit, the move he is bound by a vote made last week in the British Parliament preventing him from leaving the EU without an agreement.
Johnson met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Brexit European Commissioner Michael Barnier but no agreement was reached. Prior to the meeting Johnson compared the UK to the superhero Hulk.
“The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets,” Johnson told the widely read tabloid, invoking the comic-book and film character known for his formidable but destructive strength.
The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said the comments showed a lack of maturity.
“Even to Trumpian standards the Hulk comparison is infantile,” he tweeted. “Is the EU supposed to be scared by this? The British public impressed?” Verhofstadt added.
Mark Ruffalo, the actor that portrayed Hulk in Marvel’s blockbuster movie said the superhero “only fights for the good of the whole” and that he was a “disaster” when working without a team, the CNN quotes.
“Mad and strong can also be dense and destructive,” Ruffalo warned.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron accused the current prime minister of “populism” and says he tried to prevent Johnson from joining the campaign for Britain’s exit from the Union.
In his book, Cameron states that Johnson was in favor of holding a second referendum to determine the terms of Brexit, something Johnson now categorically rejects.