Macron minister says ‘no deal better than bad deal’ for EU

FRANCE said yesterday that it would prefer Britain to leave Europe without a deal, rather than accepting a compromise that undermined the integrity of the EU.

The stark warning from Nathalie Loiseau, the country’s Europe minister, came as both sides prepared for a crucial fortnight of negotiations following the close of the Conservative Party conference last night. “No deal would be better than a bad deal,” Ms Loiseau told a French radio station, turning the Brexiteers’ own mantra back on the UK, before warning that “time is running out” for Theresa May to strike a deal with Brussels.

Her remarks came hours before the Prime Minister delivered her conference speech, in which she refused to rule out a “no deal” and repeated demands for a deal with Europe that delivered “frictionless trade in goods”. British and EU negotiators have until the European Council meets on Oct 17 to reach the basis for a Withdrawal Agreement that would seal the terms of the EU-UK divorce, and open the door to full trade talks in April next year.

Ms Loiseau’s remarks echo an increasingly strident tone from the administration of Emmanuel Macron, which has warned that accepting the trade elements of Mrs May’s Chequers plan would seriously damage the single market.

Regional experts warned that with Mr Macron flagging in the polls at home and looking for a platform to fight the populists at next May’s European elections, the French leader may calculate that a no-deal Brexit serves his country’s short-term interests.

Mujtaba Rahman, the head of the Europe practice at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said the French president clearly saw Brexit as a part of Europe’s populist problem, marking an inwardturn away from Brussels and internationalist outlook.

“He will not support any deal that he believes could undermine the single market – and is convinced that May’s Chequers blueprint will do that,” he said. “Mrs May’s team should not assume he’s bluffing.”

With the rhetorical temperature

rising, negotiators will now focus on resolving the Irish backstop issue – which officials on both sides say is the main obstacle to concluding a Withdrawal Agreement.

Europe is demanding that Britain sign up to a backstop that will legally guarantee an invisible border in Ireland, whatever happens in the future negotiations.

Mrs May has committed to the principle of a backstop, but also that there will be no additional barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or a customs border in the Irish Sea.

The Daily Telegraph understands that a new British proposal to be presented in the coming days will suggest the UK remains in a de facto customs union with Europe, to avoid an Irish Sea border, while leaving Northern Ireland to align separately with single market rules.

The compromise, which well-placed Brexit sources said would crucially accept that companies in Great Britain would face greater regulatory checks with the EU than those in Northern Ireland, leaves Mrs May walking a political tightrope.

Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party – which props up Mrs May’s minority government in Westminster – has said that any additional border checks in the Irish Sea would cross a “blood-red” line for her party.

But the EU is adamant checks must fall somewhere.

Still, both sides were keeping up an optimistic tone yesterday, with Dominic Raab, the Brexit Secretary, pushing back on suggestions that the DUP now held the “whip hand” in the coming negotiations.

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, who has been pivotal in the talks, said that he believed a middle ground could be found.

“We believe it is possible to find the balance and the compromise to get this done,” he said. “Ireland is happy to show some flexibility.”