Boris Johnson and Joe Biden
  • The EU has thanked President-elect Joe Biden for his support after he warned Boris Johnson not to undermine the Good Friday Agreement in pursuit of a favourable Brexit deal.
  • Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, 'thanked the President-elect for his clear support of the Withdrawal Agreement the EU concluded with the UK last year.'
  • It came after Biden publicly warned Boris Johnson in October that a UK-US trade deal was off the table if Boris Johnson undermined the Good Friday Agreement.
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The EU has thanked President-elect Joe Biden for his support after he warned Boris Johnson against his plans to rip up parts of his Brexit deal with Europe. 

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, spoke with Biden by phone on Monday, according to a readout provided by the EU. During the phone call, Michel "thanked the President-elect for his clear support of the Withdrawal Agreement the EU concluded with the UK last year."

"This agreement preserves peace and stability in Ireland and fully respects the Good Friday Agreement," the readout added.

The statement came after Johnson announced a plan to pass a piece of legislation, called the Internal Market Bill, which would disapply some parts of the provisional Brexit deal struck between the UK and the EU last year. Parts of the Internal Market Bill, which Johnson is still trying to push through parliament, relate to the passage of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Ministers admitted the plan would break international law because it would involve breaking an international treaty. Biden's tweet in October echoed the concerns of other senior Democrats, who warned that it could involve breaking the Good Friday Agreement, despite Downing Street's insistence that it would not. 

However, Biden, who spoke to Johnson for the first time earlier this month, used his call to remind Johnson twice of his commitments to Brexit in relation to Northern Ireland, according to reports.

While President Trump was an ardent supporter of the UK's departure from the EU, Biden was firmly opposed to the idea. Antony Blinken, Biden's secretary of state pick, last year called Brexit a "total mess." 

The president-elect in October also publicly warned Boris Johnson in October not to let the Good Friday Agreement become "a casualty of Brexit." He also said that a UK-US trade deal was off the table if the UK government undermined the Good Friday Agreement.

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