France’s Macron says October 31 should be ‘final’ deadline for Brexit

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that October 31 should be the “final” deadline for Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.

Macron was among those EU leaders opposed to granting Britain a long extension of its date for divorce when it was moved from March until the end of October.

“I think this is the final, final deadline because I don’t want to have the new Commission and this new executive to deal with [this],” he said, referring to the naming of new heads of major EU institutions. “I think it is a big mistake to procrastinate,” Reuters quoted Macron as saying.

The French president was speaking in English at the Elysee Palace in Paris with members of the International Monetary Conference. “I do believe we now have to implement the British people's decision. Except if the British people themselves decide something else,” Macron said.