I’ll take tough line on Brexit, warns Macron
Emmanuel Macron, the French presidential candidate, has warned British leaders that the UK can expect no concessions in Brexit negotiations if he is elected. The 39-year-old centrist candidate promised to lure talented professionals across the Channel as he warned that the future of Franco-British relations was at stake. He said that he would take a rigid line on access to the single market and vowed to push for an unbreakable “Franco-German position” to defend EU interests.
FRANCE’S rising political star Emmanuel Macron has warned British leaders that the UK can expect no concessions in Brexit negotiations if he is elected French president, vowing to take a rigid line on access to the EU’s single market and the powers of the European Court.
The 39-year old centrist candidate stood on the steps of Downing Street yesterday and also vowed to lure bankers and talented professionals from Britain as he warned that the future of Franco-British relations was at stake.
Mr Macron said he would push for an unbreakable “Franco-German position” to defend the collective interests of the EU, presumably to prevent the UK trying to do individual deals with EU members as talks drag on. He said he would ensure that British withdrawal was fully compliant with the strict terms of EU treaty law.
“I take a classical view of what it means to be a member of the EU. I don’t want to accept any caveat or waiver,” he told a group of British journalists in London hours before he held a rally to try to woo expat voters.
The comments came after he emerged from an hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister, Theresa May, to discuss the contours of Brexit and a common defence policy. The former Rothschild banker later addressed some 3,500 members of Britain’s 300,000-strong community of French expatriates. This constituency is wellaligned with his ideological mix of Leftwing social views and reformist freetrade liberalism, and is a major source of funding for grass-roots campaigns. Mr Macron said he was delighted to stage a meeting “in France’s sixth city” to quote a “great author, Boris Johnson”.
Referring to his meeting with Mrs May, Mr Macron said he told the Prime Minister that negotiations over Brexit would “above all be a European affair”.
“It must be above all a discussion between the EU and Britain. There cannot be 27 agendas with Britain. If we enter into 27 debates, it’s too much. The preservation of Europe, of the common market of the EU is at stake. If we don’t negotiate well this Brexit, we’ll all grow weaker. We must defend French interests.” He said the talks would take “several years”. While he said France and Europe “must not concede short-term concessions” to the UK concerning Brexit, the “special relationship between France and Britain must be preserved”, he added, notably in defence. “The key to my strategy is to defend a special relationship between Britain and Europe. And I think it would be a profound error for Britain and Europe alike if it chose the open sea.”
The Prime Minister received Emmanuel Macron at Downing Street yesterday. Mr Macron, who was in London to address French expatriate voters, could well become the president of France later this year. Britain may be leaving the European Union, but good relations with the government of France will remain important to us. Theresa May might not share Mr Macron’s policies – he is best understood as a French imitation of Tony Blair – but she can put those differences aside in the national interest.
Yet Mrs May is less willing to take such a pragmatic approach to another potential French president. The British Government, it was confirmed yesterday, will have no official dealings with Marine Le Pen of the National Front.
Mrs Le Pen’s party is not a pleasant one. Some of its members engage in anti-Semitism, xenophobia and racism. Her policies, especially on trade, are unwise and her relationship with Russia is troubling. These things are doubtless behind Mrs May’s aversion to dealing with Ms Le Pen. They will also probably ensure she does not win the presidency: the polls are against her.
Yet no wise observer would entirely rule out the possibility of President Le Pen. Recent experience teaches that the unthinkable is often perfectly possible. Mrs May’s pre-election scorn for Donald Trump unnecessarily complicated her early dealings with the US president. She should learn from that experience and realise that she does not have to endorse another politician’s policies or rhetoric to work with that politician. Britain’s interests are eternal, and it is Mrs May’s duty to promote them, no matter how distasteful she may find that.