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| - The European Union's top officials sent public messages wishing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson a "full recovery" on Monday after the UK leader was put into intensive care suffering from COVID-19. European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and the EU's Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier fired off separate tweets saying their thoughts and wishes were with Johnson. "My thoughts are with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his family this evening. I wish him a speedy and full recovery," von der Leyen tweeted. The messages from the others used very similar words. "Wishing Boris Johnson all the best and a speedy recovery. My thoughts are with you and your family," said Barnier, who himself is recovering from a positive COVID-19 test result he revealed March 19. The EU's foreign policy supremo, Josep Borrell, also tweeted: "Wishing you all the best and a speedy recovery, Boris! best wishes, Josep." The speaker of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, tweeted a similar sentiment. The outpourings underlined the setting aside of political tussling that had characterised the pre-virus relations with Johnson and EU officials because of Brexit. Britain left the EU at the end of January this year. But thorny negotiations are scheduled to continue for the rest of this year to define future ties. Johnson has insisted those talks will not go on beyond the end of December, in line with a law his government has passed, even though a Brexit withdrawal agreement between both sides allows an extension of up to two years. Johnson has a long history with Brussels predating his politician days. In the late 1980s and 1990s he was a correspondent in the city covering the European Union, or the European Economic Community as it was called back then. He earned a reputation as a writer of reports based on sometimes iffy or fictious "facts" that sold well to eurosceptic readers in Britain, but he was also seen as an amusing raconteur with big ambitions. rmb/dl
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