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Emmanuel Macron says door to remain in EU is open to Britain Emmanuel Macron says door to remain in EU is open to Britain
(35 minutes later)
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has told Theresa May that the door remains open to Britain to stay in the European Union. The door is still open to Britain remaining in the EU, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said in a joint press conference with Theresa May.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the prime minister in Paris, Macron said France wants the negotiations to start as “quickly as possible”, later adding: “Of course the door remains open, always open until the Brexit negotiations come to an end.” In remarks that will be taken as an encouraging sign that there may be room to compromise by opponents of a hard Brexit, the newly elected French leader said that the decision to leave the EU could still be reversed if the UK wished to do so.
He said: “That being said a sovereign decision was taken by the British people and that is to come out of the European Union and I very much respect the decisions taken by the people, be it by the French people or the British people. But he acknowledged there had been a democratic decision taken to leave, saying: “Of course the door remains open, always open until talks come to the end. But it was a sovereign decision taken by the people to come out of the EU.”
“As a matter of fact in this case it’s not for me to say whether or not this decision should be questioned – the decision to leave the European Union – but until the negotiations come to an end, of course there is always the possibility to re-open the door. He added: “It’s not for me to say whether or not this decision should be questioned. But until negotiations come to an end there is always a chance to reopen the door.”
“But let us be clear and organised and once the negotiations have started we should be well aware that it’ll be more difficult to move backwards.” Macron said that unpicking Britain’s decision to exit would become more complex as time went on. “As the negotiations go on, it will be more and more difficult to go backwards,” he said.
May confirmed that Brexit talks will start next week and the timetable remains on course. Earlier, she had flown to Paris after breaking off from negotiations with the Democratic Unionist party to shore up her minority government following last week’s disastrous election results. The prime minister’s first foreign visit after she failed to win a majority last Thursday should have been a triumphant occasion, but instead had a long shadow cast over proceedings by the start of negotiations with the DUP in Downing Street earlier on Tuesday morning, which ended without agreement.
May and Macron said they discussed Brexit, security issues and migration. Side-by-side with Macron, the outsider who won not only a landslide in the presidential elections but whose party overnight stormed the legislative elections to win a huge majority, it was terror and security on the public agenda rather than Brexit talks, which begin in earnest next week.
May, speaking at a press conference, said: “We have been very clear we want to maintain a close relationship and a close partnership with the EU and individual member states into the future, including in the areas we’ve discussed this evening. After an awkward start to the press conference, where the prime minister’s speech papers blew away in the evening breeze, May underlined the UK’s intention to begin negotiations for the UK’s departure from the bloc next week, despite ongoing talks with the DUP.
“And I confirmed to President Macron that the timetable for the Brexit negotiation remains on course and will begin next week.” “We have been very clear we want to maintain a close relationship and a close partnership with the EU and individual member states into the future, including in the areas we’ve discussed this evening,” she said. “And I confirmed to President Macron that the timetable for the Brexit negotiation remains on course and will begin next week.”
She added: “I believe with the good process that has been set out by the EU for the negotiations that start next week, and willingness and intent on both sides, that we will see an arrangement in the interests of the UK and the remaining 27 EU countries.” May said that following the election there was a “unity of purpose in Britain over Brexit”.
“A unity of purpose that having voted to leave the EU, that the government gets on and makes a success of it.”