Italy humiliates Boris Johnson after he threatens the nation's Prosecco trade

Italy has humiliated Boris Johnson after the bumbling Brexiteer threatened the nation's Prosecco trade.
Economy minister Carlo Calenda branded the Foreign Secretary's approach "insulting" and "wishful thinking" in a damning interview today.
It is a second blow to the top Tory just hours after a Dutch politician branded his EU trade tactics "intellectually impossible".
Italian politician Mr Calenda told Bloomberg: "His idea is 'we want to have access to the common market without giving you [free movement]'.



"I think this is wishful thinking.
"His answer was 'you are selling a lot of Prosecco in the UK' - which is true, we had a record year - 'and you will allow us to do this because you don't want to lose Prosecco exports.'

 Boris brought up the issue of Italian Prosecco...

But Italy's Carlo Calenda said he could carry on exporting to all the other EU nations (Photo: Rex)

"And I said 'yeah, maybe we're going to lose some Prosecco. You're going to lose some fish and chips exports. The difference is I'm going to lose to one country - you to 27.'"
While exporting cooked fish and chips wouldn't be very tasty, Britain does export seafood to the EU - with £360m of UK shellfish heading to European tables in 2015.

 
Mr Calenda said Britain needs to "put its cards on the table and negotiate" after Theresa May said she could not reveal her hand yet.
He added: "My perception is there is a lot of confusion. And this is still a topic of internal political debate in the UK, which to be honest, is not acceptable."

The Foreign Secretary could face a threat to British fish and chips (Photo: PA)

It was not immediately clear when Mr Calenda and Mr Johnson met, but both politicians spoke at a conference in Siena on September 16.
Mr Johnson has more meetings with EU leaders planned and is due to host Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström in London today.
Earlier he was accused of offering British people a vision of life outside the EU that is "intellectually impossible'' and "politically unavailable''.


Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem launched the attack after Mr Johnson suggested Britain would "probably" leave the customs union - but could still have a "dynamic trade relationship" with the EU.
Downing Street was quick to play down the remarks, insisting no decisions had been made.
Mr Dijsselbloem told the BBC's Newsnight: "I think he is offering to the British people options that are really not available.

Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem launched a second attack

"To say 'we could be inside the internal market, keep full access to the internal market, but be outside the customs union' - this is just impossible, it doesn't exist.
"The opposite does exist. We have a customs union with Turkey but Turkey is not part of the internal market.
"So he is saying things that are intellectually impossible, politically unavailable.
"I think he is not offering the fair approach that gives the British people a fair view of what is ahead."
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “The Foreign Secretary’s comments reflect the strength of the trading relationship between the UK and Italy. We’re looking to ensure this continues as we depart the EU.”