Dutch Finance Min.: Boris Johnson misleads the British about Brexit

Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup Chariman Jeroen Dijsselbloem thinks that British minister Boris Johnson is misleading the British population about the options and consequences of the Brexit, he said in the BBC program Newsnight.

"I think he's offering to the British people options that are really not available", he said. As an example he points to Johnson saying that Britain can get full access to the EU internal market, but be outside the customs union. "This is just impossible. It doesn't exist", Dijsselbloem said. "He's saying things that are intelectually impossible, politically unavailable. So I think he is not offering the fair approach that gives the British people a fair view of what is ahead, of what is available and what can be achieved in these negotiations."

According to Dijsselbloem, the Brexit is a lose-lose situation. "In the best case, if we set aside all emotions and try to work out an agreement which is least damaging to both of us, we can sort of minimize the damages for the UK economy and for the European economy", he said. "It's still going to be a worse-off situation than where we are now."

Dijsselbloem's talk on Newsnight follows the leak of an internal memo from advice office Deloitte, which stated that the British government does not have a strategy for a Brexit and can't agree on a course to follow. In reaction the British government denied this.