EU official: Boris Johnson's Brexit vision 'impossible'

LONDON — A European Union finance leader has accused British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of offering an “intellectually impossible” vision for Brexit.

It came after Johnson, who campaigned to leave the bloc, was quoted by the Czech newspaper Hospodarske Noviny on Tuesday saying that the United Kingdom was likely to leave the customs union — which allows the tariff-free movement of goods between EU members — but still wanted to maintain free trade with the bloc after Brexit.

“We want to leave the EU legal framework and treaties. We will probably have to leave the customs union, but that is a question that will be discussed," Johnson said in the interview.

"I believe it can be done and at the same time maintain free trade and growing European economies."

He said he could not imagine the United Kingdom losing access to the single market, which allows EU members to trade with each other without restrictions or tariffs. Britons voted to leave the EU at a referendum in June.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the Eurogroup of EU finance ministers, told the BBC's Newsnight program that what Johnson was proposing was “really not available."

"The U.K. will be outside the internal market and there will be some hindrances,” 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," Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister. said of Johnson.

Downing Street, the office of Prime Minister Theresa May, said a decision has not been taken on membership of the customs union post-Brexit.

May wants to trigger the process of leaving the EU — which will take at least two years — by March next year.

Meanwhile, in a major boost to the U.K.’s tech industry, Google said it would open new headquarters in central London, more than doubling its existing offices in King’s Cross in a move that could increase its U.K. workforce from about 4,000 to 7,000.

"The U.K. has been a tremendous market for us," Sundar Pichai, the firm’s chief executive, told the BBC.

"We see big opportunities here. This is a big commitment from us — we have some of the best talent in the world in the U.K. and to be able to build great products from here sets us up well for the long term," he added.

A number of tech firms are considering moving to other EU member states due to concerns about losing access to European markets post-Brexit, according to media reports.