France’s President Emmanuel Macron has lashed out at the UK leaders of the Brexit campaign, calling them “liars,” who misled British people and abandoned them the “next day” after the referendum.
“Brexit is the choice of the British people… pushed by those who predicted easy solutions. Those people are liars. They left the next day so they didn’t have to manage it,” Macron said on Thursday, vowing to “never” accept any Brexit deal, which would put the EU’s integrity at risk.
“Those who explain that we can easily live without Europe, that everything is going to be alright, and that it's going to bring a lot of money home are liars,” Macron stated, claiming that the whole Brexit affair has clearly shown to other countries the negative consequences of leaving the EU.
The French president also criticized the Brexit plan by British Prime Minister Theresa May, commending her, however, for “bravery.” The EU expects new proposals from Britain in October to iron out the outstanding issues.
“We all agreed on this today, the proposals in their current state are not acceptable, especially on the economic side of it.”
Macron also stated that he would actually prefer the “blind Brexit,” which would leave the trading relationship between the UK and EU for the post-departure talks. “The Chequers plan cannot be take it or leave it,” he said.
The Chequers template, also known as the “soft-Brexit” option, was formulated by the British PM back in July after lengthy talks with her cabinet. The strategy, supposed to define relations between the UK and EU after Brexit, caused quite a stir among British politicians and voters, and was met coldly by the EU itself.
Perceived sloppy handling of the Brexit talks has seen May’s approval ratings plummet, while the Tory government suffered a string ministerial resignations which involved the now-former Brexit secretary David Davis and one of the original Brexiteer campaigners, Boris Johnson.
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