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Boris Johnson attacked over 'Prosecco insult' | |
(about 5 hours later) | |
An Italian minister has accused Boris Johnson of "insulting" his country by suggesting it should back his version of a Brexit deal or face losing sales of Prosecco sparkling wine. | |
Carlo Calenda said the UK would abandon some "fish and chips exports" under the foreign secretary's approach to trade. | |
Mr Calenda's comments are based on his own version of talks with the UK's foreign secretary. | |
Mr Johnson has promised a "dynamic trade relationship" with the EU. | |
Prime Minister Theresa May wants to get formal negotiations on leaving the EU started by the end of next March. | |
The government says it does not want to reveal its negotiating hand before this happens. | |
But, describing a conversation with Mr Johnson about the UK's preferred Brexit outcome, Mr Calenda, Italy's economic development minister, told Bloomberg TV: "His idea is, 'We want to have access to the common market without giving you access in terms of free circulation of people,' and I think this is wishful thinking. | |
"His answer was, 'OK, but you are selling a lot of what we call Prosecco in the UK... and you will allow us to do this because you don't want to lose Prosecco exports.' | |
"I said, 'Maybe we're going to lose some Prosecco; you're going to lose some fish and chips exports. The difference is I'm going to lose [exports] to one country, you to 27.' | |
"Putting things on this level is a bit insulting." | |
Earlier, Mr Johnson reportedly told the Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny he did not believe the UK would remain in the EU customs union - which allows members to move goods without the imposition of tariffs on each other - after Brexit. | |
He was quoted as saying he believed this could happen while "maintaining free trade" with EU states, suggesting the UK could remain within the single market. | |
Speaking to the BBC's Newsnight, Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem - who is also president of the eurozone's Eurogroup - said Mr Johnson was putting forward options that "are really not available". | |
"He's saying things that are intellectually impossible, politically unavailable, so I think he's not offering the British people a fair view of what is available and what can be achieved in these negotiations," he said. | "He's saying things that are intellectually impossible, politically unavailable, so I think he's not offering the British people a fair view of what is available and what can be achieved in these negotiations," he said. |
EU leaders have continually warned that the UK cannot expect access to European markets after Brexit unless it accepts the free movement of labour. | EU leaders have continually warned that the UK cannot expect access to European markets after Brexit unless it accepts the free movement of labour. |
Mr Johnson, a leading figure in the campaign to leave the EU ahead of June's referendum, has criticised those who "prophesied doom" over Brexit. | |
He said: "We are going to get a deal which is of huge value and possibly of greater value. | |
Mr Johnson added: "We are going to get the best possible deal for trade in goods and services." | |
UK sales of Prosecco overtook those of champagne last year, reaching £339m in the 12 months to July, according to research company IRI. | |
No figures on UK exports of fish and chips to the EU were immediately discovered by the BBC. | |