Johnson turns out to be Boris Longstocking in Brexit negotiations

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, here in the role of the builder (June 30, 2020)

Photo: REUTERS

At the beginning of the next round of Brexit negotiations - which is now the eighth - the British delegation head David Frost called for more "realism" from the EU on Tuesday.

That's nicely said, but also involuntarily funny.

Because on the EU side, one has long been wondering how this should work: Remain realistic in the face of a negotiating partner who practically adjusts reality every week.

The latest masterpiece in the art of denial of reality was made by Boris Johnson's government on Monday.

She confirmed that she would present a law this week that could partially nullify the legally binding agreement with the EU on Northern Ireland - the trickiest of all Brexit disputes.

After three years of grueling tugging, everyone would be back on the loose.

But no one in jail.

Johnson saw it that way too.

Until he became prime minister.

As depressing, frustrating, or shocking as it may be, it isn't really surprising.

Because when it comes to Northern Ireland, Boris Johnson is a repeat offender.

As a reminder: How things should go on at the Northern Ireland border after Britain's exit from the EU has always been the question of millions in the tiresome Brexit quiz.

Because it is not just about money and infrastructure, but about peace on a long-suffering island.

London and Brussels therefore agreed in principle from the outset that in future there should by no means be a hard, visible barrier between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the south, whatever Brexit might look like in the end.

The hapless Theresa May therefore tried the so-called backstop solution.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland would therefore remain in a temporary customs union with the EU.

The alternative - a customs border through the Irish Sea, with goods controls between Northern Ireland and the other parts of the kingdom - was not one, announced May: No prime minister could ever agree to this de facto splitting of their country.

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Protest poster on the Northern Irish-Irish border

Photo: Paul Faith / AFP

May's greatest critic, Boris Johnson, saw it that way.

Until he became prime minister.

Last October, in a desperate political situation, he suddenly voted in favor of special treatment for Northern Ireland, but at the same time tried to sell this turnaround as a triumphant victory over the Brussels bureaucrats.

The EU, which could hardly believe its luck, played along.

And so the agreement was written in the Northern Ireland Minutes of the Withdrawal Treaty.

Binding under international law.

And apparently waterproof.

Then on Monday the next U-turn

Johnson, the illusionist, promised Northern Irish import and export entrepreneurs at every opportunity afterwards that they would have to fear "no forms, no controls, no obstacles" in the future.

To be on the safe side, he had it included in the election manifesto of his conservative party in December.

Only: It was wrong anyway.

Contract is contract.

One should think so.

So now on Monday the man's U-turn, who should go down in British history as a kind of Boris Longstocking.

He makes the world, widde-widde-as he likes it.

With a new law, the details of which are to be published on Wednesday, Johnson's government wants to determine in future which goods that are brought across the Irish Sea, how and by whom are controlled and who has to fill out which customs forms.

Is Johnson just showing the EU the instruments?

Isn't that what the exit agreement says?

Is there a possible violation of the law?

And in extreme cases could it lead to a hard border on the Irish island again?

Who would have thought that?

Of course, it can also be that all of this is just saber rattling.

The fact that Johnson wants to show the EU the instruments so that it, demonstrating realism, gives in and, out of sheer whimsy, offers the British a flawless trade agreement that contains only privileges but no obligations.

And that, according to Johnson's latest ultimatum, by mid-October at the latest.

But one thing should be considered by "Britain Trump" (Donald Trump): denial of reality may be a renewable resource, especially worldwide.

It's not patience and trust.

Icon: The mirror