Macron warns Boris Johnson Brexit could turn UK into vassal state of US before they meet in Paris

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/aug/22/brexit-latest-news-macron-boris-warns-boris-johnson-brexit-could-turn-uk-into-vassal-state-of-us-ahead-of-their-meeting-in-paris-live-news

Macron warns Boris Johnson Brexit could turn UK into vassal state of US before they meet in Paris - live news

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09:25


Macron warns Boris Johnson Brexit could turn UK into vassal state of US before they meet in Paris

Boris Johnson received a more cordial welcome than he might have expected last night when he met the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin on his first trip abroad as PM. But today he is in Paris for lunch with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and their exchanges might be considerably more prickly. Macron has repeatedly accused the leave campaign, that Johnson led, of lying to the British public, of all the main EU leaders he has been least willing to make concessions to the UK over Brexit, and yesterday, in a two-and-a-half hour briefing with journalists (not mainly about Johnson – the UK is not that important to France – it was a marathon event because Macron is hosting the G7 summit at the weekend) Macron delivered two very unpalatable messages for his British counterpart.
Macron said that renegotiating the EU withdrawal agreement was “not an option”. Johnson says, without a renegotiation, there will be no Brexit deal.
Macron suggested that Brexit would stop the UK being a great power. This was particularly provocative because Johnson claims that Brexit will enhance the UK’s independence and prestige. But Macron argued that Brexit would leave the UK dependent on the US. He said:


The British are attached to being a great power, a member of the security council. The point can’t be to exit Europe and say ‘we’ll be stronger’, before in the end, becoming the junior partner of the United States, which are acting more and more hegemonically.

In a particularly neat twist, using the language of Brexiters to contest one of the main claims of the Brexit project, Macron even suggested that outside the EU, instead of being released from European vassalage, Britain would end up a vassal state of the US.


Can the cost for Britain of a hard Brexit – because Britain will be the main victim – be offset by the United States of America? No.

And even if it were a strategic choice it would be at the cost of a historic vassalisation of Britain. I don’t think this is what Boris Johnson wants. I don’t think it is what the British people want. I don’t think it’s the will of the British people … to become the junior partner of the US.
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