(CNN) When Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson spoke to reporters ahead of their meeting in Paris on Thursday, they stood side by side but sounded as if they were living in parallel universes.

Both men stuck firmly to their lines -- the British Prime Minister demanding that the European Union reopens the Brexit agreement , the French President saying that's not possible.

Macron said that he's often portrayed as the "hard man" in Brexit negotiations. But there is little time left to alter the existing deal substantively, he said. "We will not find a new withdrawal agreement within 30 days which will be very different from the existing one."

The French President reiterated his stance that Brexit is "not the choice of the European Union."

Johnson's Paris visit was the second leg of a trip aimed at pushing the European Union to shift its position on Brexit. The PM insists the EU must ditch the so-called Irish backstop -- a demand that has so far fallen on deaf ears among the bloc's leaders.

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