The Guardian — 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
“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.
“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.
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.
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.
