Brexit
cannot be cancelled or delayed, says François Hollande
French
president says UK must face consequences of its vote and a quick exit
from EU would avert economic instability
Patrick Wintour in
Brussels and Arthur Neslen in Bratislava
Friday 1 July 2016
16.13 BST
The French
president, François Hollande, has stepped up the pressure on the UK
over its timetable to leave the EU, insisting that Brexit cannot be
cancelled or delayed, and that Britain will have to live with the
consequences.
His hardline
comments came after a meeting with David Cameron in northern France
at the Battle of the Somme centenary commemorations. “The decision
has been taken; it cannot be delayed and it cannot be cancelled. Now
[the British] have to face the consequences,” Hollande told
reporters.
“Being in the
European Union has advantages. And that’s … what the British are
starting to understand,” added the president, alluding to voters
who opted to leave but had since expressed regrets. “Those who were
tempted by the Brexit are starting to think it over.”
Hollande said a
speedy Brexit “would avert all the uncertainties and instability,
especially in the economic and financial domains. The faster it goes,
the better it will be for them.”
His timetable is in
stark contrast to those of Michael Gove and Theresa May, the leading
candidates to replace Cameron as Conservative party leader and prime
minister, who have said they would not trigger the article 50 process
until the end of the year.
But it was echoed in
Bratislava by Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European
commission, which wants the process to be triggered as soon as a new
Conservative leader is elected in September, though it cannot force
the UK to do so.
“There will be no
negotiations whatsoever before notification and we are inviting the
British authorities to make their intentions clear,” Juncker said.
“We do not have time to lose; we cannot add uncertainty to
uncertainty.”
He reiterated that
Britain would have to accept freedom of movement if it wanted to stay
in the single market. “I can’t give in on that point,” he said.
However, the
question may be slightly more fluid than officially presented, with
two Scandinavian countries said to be unhappy that the Brexit reforms
Cameron negotiated earlier this year are now off the table.
One EU source said:
“Some movement by some member states on the question of freedom of
movement is possible at some point down the line. But is unlikely in
the next two years.”
There is a suspicion
that Hollande, trailing in the polls and facing both French Socialist
party primary elections this year and national elections next year,
wants to take the toughest line possible with the British for
domestic political purposes. There is also a growing hope in France
that Paris, if it makes the right pitch, might be able to grab
financial services business from London.
Article 50, the part
of the Lisbon treaty that sets out the process for leaving the EU,
states that a government planning to leave the EU shall notify the EU
in line with its national constitutional procedures.
European lawyers, in
evidence to Lords select committees, said it would be possible for
the UK to revoke a notification to withdraw. It also stressed that it
was legally the preserve of the nation planning to quit the EU to
trigger the departure process.
There are differing
legal views on whether a prime minister is required to consult
parliament before triggering article 50, or whether instead it is a
matter of the royal prerogative.
Hollande’s remarks
came after the EU trade commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, said there
was no prospect of starting talks on a new trade arrangement with the
UK until the UK had actually left the bloc. She said there were two
separate legal processes, but the UK had hoped it would be able to
construct the talks on a new trade arrangement simultaneously with
the talks on disengagement from the EU.
Malmström’s
message is being reinforced at all levels within the European
commission. But greater room for manoeuvre may appear should a new
prime minister come forward with a clear plan and timetable,
delivered in an amicable tone – not least because they would be
under pressure to make concessions in return.
“The attitude is
that everyone needs to take a step back, and a deep breath,” an EU
source said. “There’s no point in people getting too excited
before a new prime minister is in place.”
If backed by other
EU figures, Hollande’s warnings could mean that the moment the UK
triggered article 50 there would be no chance for the UK to
reconsider Brexit either though a vote in parliament or a second
referendum.
The Liberal
Democrats have already said they back a second referendum when the
terms of the Brexit talks are complete, but the shadow chancellor,
John McDonnell, said the UK would have to exit the result of last
week’s referendum and negotiate a new model arrangement that
retained UK access to the EU single market.
Juncker again said
the UK could not have an exit deal in which it retained everything it
wants, such as access to the single market, and nothing it dislikes,
such as free movement of workers.
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