La battle of the prosecco. This is the title that could be given to the clash between the Italian Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda and the British Foreign Secretary, as well as champion of Leave, Boris Johnson.
According to what Calenda reported to Bloomberg, in fact, Johnson, despite the imminent exit of Great Britain from the EU will not allow the free movement of people, would still like to maintain the single market. According to the British foreign minister, Italy should accept these conditions, if it does not want to risk losing the very profitable prosecco exports to Great Britain.
“'I don't want the free movement of people, but I do want the single market', Johnson said – as reported by Calenda -. I replied: 'no' and he said: 'So you will sell less prosecco' and I said: 'OK, you will sell less fish and chips, but we will only sell less prosecco to one country, while you will sell less to 27 villages'. To put things at this level is a bit offensive."
Therefore, the response of the Italian minister was harsh and decisive, criticizing the approach of the British government to the negotiations that will have to establish the modalities of Brexit: "There is a lot of chaos - continued Calenda - and we don't quite understand what is their location. This is all becoming an internal debate within the UK but this is not good. The British government needs to sit down, put its cards on the table and negotiate."
A voice that finds an authoritative echo in that of the Dutch finance minister and president of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem: “It would certainly have been in my country's interest and in European and British interests if the UK had stayed in the EU, but I don't think it will. The best option is to reach the best possible deal, but the UK will be out of the single market."
