Le Maire: Accepting Chequers Brexit plan ‘would be suicidal’

Future of Europe is 'more important to us' than future of UK, says French finance minister.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

France’s finance minister has said allowing the U.K. to leave the European Union but hold on to the bloc’s advantages “would be suicidal,” and claimed Europe is more concerned with its own future than Britain’s.

Theresa May’s Brexit strategy “doesn’t add up” and would spell the “end of Europe,” Bruno Le Maire said, according to an FT report published today.

“If we give the idea that we can exit the European Union and keep all of the benefits of the single market, then it is the end of Europe,” the minister said.

“Sorry to put it bluntly but what is more important for us than the future of the U.K. is the future of Europe,” he said. “Any decision that gives European citizens the impression that you can leave the European Union and keep all the advantages would be suicidal.”

Le Maire’s comments are in line with those of French President Emmanuel Macron, who told May at last week’s summit in Salzburg — where EU leaders shot down May’s Chequers proposal — that Brexit would not be “without a cost” or “consequences.”

“We want a deal with the British, and I think it is in everyone’s interest to have a good deal,” Le Maire said, adding that “Chequers is a move in the right direction” but that there needs to be a “comprehensive agreement, not one just on goods.”

The minister also said France is preparing for a no-deal Brexit but added that current analysis suggests “the impact [of a hard Brexit] on French growth would be weak.”

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