Team Theresa gets frosty European reception

EU politicians react with shock and name-calling to the provocative new British power structure.

Shock, anxiety and name-calling aren’t typical reactions to the incoming government of a respected world power, but they describe a good part of Europe’s welcome for British Prime Minister Theresa May’s new cabinet — and especially her surprise pick for foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.

While many politicians offered polite words of congratulation for May, they weren’t shy about taking aim at others in her inner circle, mainly Euroskeptic politicians who drove the Brexit effort. That Johnson — a man who recently referred to Turkey’s president as a “wankerer” — would be Britain’s chief emissary to the world drew much of the fire.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, in a radio interview Thursday morning, called Johnson a liar who misled British voters and who would “have his back against the wall” as the U.K. tried to negotiate its future relationship with Europe. Later Thursday, in a university speech, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier referred to Johnson as one of several “irresponsible” politicians who “lured the country into a Brexit.”

Both men, representing Europe’s biggest powers, will sit across the negotiating table from Johnson in just a few days, when foreign ministers meet in Brussels for what will be the Tory Brexit champion’s EU debut.

Other European politicians expressed similar alarm at the news.

“When I saw Johnson’s appointment on my phone,” said Philippe Juvin, a French MEP from the center-right European People’s Party, “I didn’t know whether it was British humor or reality.”

Even before Johnson was announced, he was the target of criticism from European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans, who made a clear but indirect reference to Johnson in a Facebook post. Timmermans criticized Brexit “campaigners” who compared the EU to Nazi Germany, as Johnson had done in a newspaper interview in May. “Why did you find it necessary to bring the Nazis into this campaign?” Timmermans asked.

There was also criticism from some about the larger makeup of May’s cabinet, which included prominent Euroskeptic David Davis in a new role as “secretary of state for exiting the EU,” a title that amounts to a diplomatic provocation of sorts; and Liam Fox as secretary of state for international trade. Both men will face the daunting task of trying to negotiate new trade and economic relationships with countries across Europe and around the world.

“It is interesting to see how many Brexiteers are in key positions,” said Tomas Prouza, the Czech European affairs minister. “I assume it is a warning for us that the negotiations will be tough and long.”

‘Awkward’

In Brussels, the main heads of the EU institutions gave cordial but terse congratulations to May, and largely withheld comment about her cabinet picks.

But European Parliament President Martin Schulz was not shy about criticizing the new British government, telling German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung on Thursday that the composition of the cabinet “shows that the focus is less on the future of the country but more about satisfying the internal cohesion of the Tory party.”

Schulz said the “United Kingdom has to break this dangerously vicious cycle which has direct impacts on the rest of Europe.”

Gianni Pittella, leader of the Parliament’s Socialist bloc, said: “Apart from the fact that the U.K has elected a woman, the entire government is orientated on a pro-Brexit line, and a line that contradicts what May stood for before.”

But EU diplomats and experts reserved their strongest criticism for Johnson, saying that as the architect of the Brexit campaign and purveyor of such blunt public statements as comparing Hillary Clinton to “a sadistic nurse in a mental hospital,” he will have a hard time being taken seriously.

“It will be awkward, because he’s not diplomatic and the diplomats are upset about Brexit,” a senior EU diplomat said. “For the political situation in the U.K. it was logical to choose Boris. Luckily it’s the heads of states who will do the heavy lifting in the negotiations.”

Another senior EU diplomat who will be at Johnson’s first Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels on Monday said: “It will be a challenge, there will be many ministers who will question his credentials.”

Others were a little less harsh in their criticism of Johnson, and paid tribute to May for having formed a government earlier than expected and created the new role for Davis.

“I think there will be a very limited role for Boris Johnson in the EU,” said Prouza. “The Brexit negotiation will be undoubtedly run directly out of Number 10 with Mr. Davis the point man for the negotiations. So I expect Mr. Johnson to focus more on topics outside the EU.”

Gallic groan

Ayrault wasn’t alone in France’s ruling Socialist elite in greeting the appointment of Johnson with scorn.

Known as a consummate French-basher, described by Reuters France as “king of the gaffe,” the former London mayor has repeatedly irritated Parisian society with his quips at their expense, notably when he compared the presidency of François Hollande to a hold-up of the rich by “sans culottes” — French commoners who led the 1789 Revolution.

Elisabeth Guigou, the Socialist chief of the National Assembly’s committee on foreign affairs, recently told POLITICO that Johnson was a man who “surfed on the wave” of anti-EU sentiment in order to boost his own career, only to shy away from the responsibility of dealing with Brexit by saying there was no need to quickly make official Britain’s divorce with the EU.

“This behavior does not surprise me from him at all,” said Guigou.

A consolation for French leaders is that, as foreign secretary, Johnson will not be directly responsible for negotiating the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

“Boris Johnson will probably not have a major influence on future negotiations with the European Union,” wrote Le Figaro, a right-leaning daily.

And at least one European political veteran said Johnson would be a welcome addition to the EU diplomatic scene:

“I think it will bring color to Europe,” said Elmar Brok, a German MEP who chairs the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Meanwhile, another key U.K. ally was keeping a calmer head about the appointment of Johnson.

Johnson spoke Thursday with his American counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who will also be in Brussels next week to meet with EU foreign ministers. According to a U.S. State Department readout of the conversation, Kerry congratulated Johnson and told him he hoped for a “sensible and measured approach” to Brexit.