Britain’s humiliation by EU will have an effect on European election: France

NewsBharati    13-Feb-2018
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Brussels, February 13: The EU must not "humiliate" UK in Brexit talks as it could trigger a wave of eurosceptic anger in upcoming European elections, Emmanuel Macron's spokesman has warned.

"We must never humiliate and never punish. That'd the worst thing that could happen and I think it would reinforce the anti-European sentiment in many countries where we have elections coming up in a year," Mr Griveaux said.

Losing an EU member was "never good news and we should never humiliate or punish them", Griveaux said.

"That'd the worst thing that could happen and I think it would reinforce the anti-European sentiment in many countries where we have elections coming up in a year," he said, warning that eurosceptics could win a majority of seats in the European Parliament for the first time in 2019 elections.

Griveaux also urged unity in the face of any attempts by Britain to exploit differences between EU members to try to get a better deal.

"There cannot... be bilateral deals with different countries. The strength of the 27 is to have a single representative, Michel Barnier, who is negotiating for the 27," he said.

During a visit to Britain last month French President Emmanuel Macron spoke in favour of a special post-Brexit deal with the EU, which would go further than a regular trade agreement but fall short of full access to the single market.