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Think for a second. Imagine you’re the EU’s leadership. If one partner gets away with unilaterally rewriting a treaty, all the EU’s treaties are rendered worthless. The EU *has* to take a stand.
The scorn and bad faith shown by Johnson over years, decades, earn him zero right to goodwill or favours from Brussels. But even if the EU wanted to help him out, it couldn’t afford to. The price would be far too high. ‘Pacta sunt servanda’ is all that makes the EU work.
Fortunately, the EU is an economic superpower (which it is because of the international rule of law). That means it has teeth. It will use them if it has to, in defence of its most precious, most essential ideal: pacta sunt servanda.
It’s no exaggeration to say that, in 2020, together with key smaller international allies, the EU is the power keeping the international rule of law alive. It *has* to take a stand here. If it doesn’t, God help us all. We do not want to live in a lawless burning world.
As to why this UK government is so relaxed about breaking international law, it’s because they’re high on their own sovereigntist supply; they never had any intention of respecting the Withdrawal Agreement, & said as much. @fotoole explains it perfectly. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/10/boris-johnson-oven-ready-brexit-cummings-withdrawal-agreement?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
