Dear United Kingdom, Emmanuel Macron would like you to take responsibility for the mess you have created. The French president spoke for the European Union as a whole when he called for the UK to find a solution to the impasse of the Brexit talks at the European council in Brussels. “There is no additional political compromise to be made on the European side as now,” he said.
When it comes down to Brexit, Macron has always been blunt. “Those who claim it is easy to operate outside of the European Union are liars,” he declared back in September at the fateful Salzburg summit. Furious Brexiteers advised Macron to “butt out” of British politics – but in doing so, they were only shooting the messenger. The French president, regularly attacked by UK politicians and pundits for daring to criticise Brexit, rarely speaks his own mind on the subject – he merely repeats, if in quite a direct phrasing, the EU’s line. Truth, it would seem, hurts more with a French accent.
Macron started off this week’s European council with a show of goodwill. At the opening of the summit in Brussels, on Wednesday, Macron said he wanted to send a “message of trust, and of urgency”. “Progress has been made, but we’re not there yet. We must decide now,” he said, adding that he hoped Theresa May would explain “what is possible” to unblock the deadlocked talks.
But little happened, and May’s presentation to the EU27 was deemed underwhelming – relaxed in tone yet devoid of new content. At a press conference yesterday, Macron made clear that the EU had done its best to find a deal and would continue to do so, but that deep down, it was up to the UK to make a choice.
There is fatigue on the EU’s side of the negotiations. Since 2016, the European red lines have not moved an inch: there can be no cherry picking of the single market’s four freedoms of people, capital, services and goods; there cannot be a hard border in Ireland. “The EU has already shown efficacy and flexibility,” Macron said at the European council. “We do not want a deal that would undermine the integrity of the single market, or the four freedoms, or that would be damaging to Ireland.” He was only repeating what the EU made clear on day one of the Brexit process.
But day one is long gone. It is now Macron’s message of “urgency” that must find its way across the Channel. He stressed the UK’s responsibility in the current deadlock: “It is up to the United Kingdom to offer a solution that fits these demands … The key element is a British political compromise.”
At the Brussels summit, everyone on the EU’s side was briefing a similar shtick: the ball is now in May’s court. Keeping to the European position almost word for word, Macron was more well-behaved than fellow leaders, such as Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaitė, who did not mince her words when she declared that the UK “does not know what it wants”. The EU’s collective frustration is clear – it isn’t just Macron’s.
Firmness can work in his favour at home. Not everyone in France is a fan of his shiny brand of neoliberalism, but most French people can get behind his Brexit stance. France rarely discusses Brexit (shockingly, other nations have moved on), and is reminded of the UK’s nightmarish political situation only when Macron attends a EU summit and makes that kind of speech – one that makes a leader look strong. The French will agree that ultimately, it is the Brits’ problem. After a months-long scandal involving Macron’s bodyguard, and with three of his ministers resigning in quick succession, the president will take the small victories he can get.
With a no-deal scenario getting more likely by the day, EU leaders cannot afford to leave things to chance. The French and German governments have published draft contingency plans.
“We have prepared ourselves, and we have taken steps,” Macron said at the EU summit. “In a very methodical manner, everything is prepared in case of a deal or a no deal.” He concluded: “I do prefer a deal, but I would never favour a bad deal.”
Dear United Kingdom, please don’t screw this up.
Sincerely, Emmanuel Macron, speaking for the EU27, who are worried, but tired of staging intervention after intervention.