Non Madame! At Fortress Napoleon, Macron refuses to break Brexit deadlock
EMMANUEL Macron last night warned Theresa May that he stood four-square behind EU negotiators as he refused to break ranks over Brexit.
The Prime Minister cut her holiday short to set out her Chequers plan to the French president at his Riviera retreat yesterday.
She warned him that Brussels faces a choice of a ‘Chequers deal or no deal’ as they held talks at Fort Bregancon.
Downing Street wanted to use the meeting to win over Mr Macron, who is seen as one of the biggest obstacles to getting an agreement.
British officials are seeking to persuade France and Germany to order the European Commission’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier to soften his hardline stance.
But the Elysee Palace refused to give a public account of the meeting as they sought to demonstrate that negotiations can only take place in Brussels.
A source signalled the French president was closely aligned with Mr Barnier, adding: ‘There is absolutely no intention to speak in place of Monsieur Barnier.’
Mrs May is the first foreign leader to visit Mr Macron at Fort Bregancon, the Mediterranean island fortress that has been a summer retreat for French presidents since 1968.
The Prime Minister was accompanied by her chief-of-staff Gavin Barwell, her Europe adviser Olly Robbins and the British ambassador to France, Ed Llewellyn.
After the formal talks, Mrs May and her husband Philip joined the president and his wife Brigitte for a private five-course dinner overlooking the sea.
The four of them enjoyed a menu that included tomatoes and saffron-flavoured langoustines, thyme-flavoured sea bass, and chicken, as well as dark chocolate creme brûlée.
Once a base from which to repel pirates from North Africa who plagued the Mediterranean, Fort Bregancon was later used as a stronghold by Napoleon during the French Revolution. It remained a military fortress until shortly after the First World War, when it was occupied by a small garrison.
Before heading to the South of France, Mrs May spoke by telephone with European Commission president JeanClaude Juncker.
Mrs May’s visit comes as part of a major diplomatic push that has seen both Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab travel to France in the past few days to make the case for a softening of attitude over the issue. In an interview before travelling to Paris, Mr Hunt said: ‘France and Germany have to send a strong signal to the Commission that we need to negotiate a pragmatic and sensible outcome that protects jobs on both sides of the Channel.’
France is seen as taking a particularly hard line in the Brexit negotiations.
This is especially so on financial services, with Paris expecting to snatch around 3,500 banking jobs from the City of London.
A source in Mr Macron’s office yesterday signalled the French president was closely aligned with Mr Barnier.
He said that the EU’s chief negotiator has maintained that any Brexit deal ‘must conform with the economic interests of the 27 remaining EU members, and the president has always supported this as well’.
Mrs May ended her holiday break in the Italian Lakes a day early to travel to France, although she will jet off to Switzerland for a second break later this month.
The UK’s former ambassador to France yesterday warned the Prime Minister she should not expect a Brexit breakthrough in the talks.
Lord Ricketts said that Mr Macron was ‘the last person’ to want to break ranks with the rest of the European Union in order to push for a softer stance from Brussels.
Mr Macron ‘doesn’t believe in softening’ the position on Brexit as ‘he is a passionate pro-European’, the peer said.
‘Doesn’t believe in softening’
‘A passionate pro-European’