MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom's previous administration was wrong to enter into the European Union's Treaty of Lisbon and allow "judicial activism" extend into the country, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Thursday.
"I think the Treaty of Lisbon was a step too far, and I think it was a great mistake. I think we should have rejected it. I think it unnecessarily expanded EU competence," Johnson told the parliamentary foreign affairs select committee.
"In particular, what it got wrong was the extension of EU competence to the field of human rights… In my view it leads to all sorts of extensions of EU judicial activism," Johnson said.
13 October 2016, 09:35 GMT
On June 23, the nationwide referendum on EU membership was held in the United Kingdom, in which 51.9 percent, or 17.4 million people, said the country should leave the bloc. Earlier in October, UK Prime Minister Theresa May stated that the government would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and thus begin the process of leaving the European Union by the end of March 2017.
Article 50 states that any country that wishes to leave the European Union must formally inform the European Council about its decision and then will have a period of two years to negotiate the terms of its withdrawal.
