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French President Emmanuel Macron has said preserving European Union unity is more important than forging a close relationship with post-Brexit Britain.

Speaking to a group of French ambassadors in Paris Mr Macron said France would not want a 'special relationship' with London if it came at the cost of the 'unravelling' of the EU.

"France wants to maintain a strong, special relationship with London but not if the cost is the European Union's unravelling," he told a gathering of French ambassadors.

Brexit, Macron said, "is a sovereign choice, which we must respect, but it can't come at the expense of the European Union's integrity".

Mr Macron did not announce any major shifts in foreign policy in the annual address to his ambassadors, but spoke forcefully about what he labelled the "crisis of multilateralism" and the need to make Europe more "sovereign".

He urged Europe to exert itself as "a trade and economic power", which defends its strategic interests and financial independence and is able to fend off the extraterritorial reach of U.S. sanctions.

Macron also pressed the need for EU member states to show more solidarity.

"Italy is against the Europe which shows no solidarity on migration, but it is for the Europe of structural funds, or so it seems when I hear some ministers speak," Macron said.

"What is happening in Italy is our political doing, an absence of solidarity. Does that excuse xenophobic rhetoric? I don't think so," he added.

Reporting by Reuters