A controlled Brexit will be the best case scenario for both EU and the UK and therefore Slovakia wants a controlled Brexit, said the Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini on Tuesday after the British Conservative Party chose its new leader Boris Johnson who will automatically become the head of the UK's government, replacing Theresa May. Pellegrini congratulated Johnson and said that he expected that the next British PM's participation in upcoming discussions of the European Council would be just as constructive as that of former Prime Minister Theresa May. Pellegrini noted that time would tell what plan and demands Johnson would present to other EU leaders. "However, there aren't many options," he said.
Katarína Cséfalvayová, chair of the Slovak Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee (of the junior governing Most-Híd party) does not believe that Boris Johnson in the post of British Prime Minister will help to find such a solution to Brexit, which would be accepted by majority and help to solve the gridlocked British political scene.
Jaroslav Paška, deputy chair of the Slovak Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee (of the junior governing Slovak National party) said that it would be good to listen closely to the incoming UK prime minister Boris Johnson when he formulates his objections to a Brexit deal. Paška believes that the new European Commission should take seriously the objections raised by the UK to the Irish backstop because that is a cardinal problem for Great Britain. He also stressed that the UK does not wish to lose sovereignty over its territory that also includes Northern Ireland. Paška added that fair talks and patience are called for during the negotiation process.
According to Slovak Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee member Martin Klus (opposition Freedom and Solidarity party), Johnson's election significantly raises the odds of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal, a development that will damage not only the already beleaguered British economy but also that of the EU, including Slovakia. "In the event of a hard Brexit, which is most likely with Johnson as the UK's PM, what kind of future Great Britain can expect outside EU is no longer a fundamental question, but rather whether Great Britain has any future in its current form at all," Klus told the TASR press agency.
Former London mayor and UK foreign minister Boris Johnson will become the next British prime minister and Conservative Party leader, as he won the party vote held from July 6-22.
