French president François Hollande on Tuesday sought to impose a unilateral French deadline for Britain's departure from the European Union, though it is highly unlikely he will be in power when it occurs. The June 23rd Brexit vote was "irreversible," he said. Once Britain leaves, it can no longer participate in EU decisions or internal markets.
"The invocation of Article 50 (of the Lisbon Treaty) cannot be postponed or it risks provoking uncertainty and instability," Mr Hollande said. "For France, everything must be concluded by 2019 – preparation and negotiations."
The French leader outlined five proposals that he will put forward at the EU summit in Bratislava on September 16th: stronger border security, including “systematic checks on every entry and exit”; relaunching a European defence project; fighting “social and fiscal dumping”; doubling investment in training and for digital and energy infrastructure under the Juncker plan, and restoring the confidence of European youths in the EU.
“If the new generation doesn’t believe in Europe, there will be no more Europe,” Mr Hollande warned.
Trade deal
He also came out against the result of three years of negotiations between the US and EU over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
“France refuses globalisation without rules, where social models are put in competition and reduced to the lowest common denominator,” Mr Hollande told France’s ambassadors in his annual foreign policy address.
It would be impossible to reach agreement before the end of Barack Obama’s presidency, Mr Hollande noted.
“The negotiations are bogged down. Positions have not been respected, the imbalance is obvious. So it’s better for us to recognise this, with lucidity . . . It is better to notify everyone that France cannot approve an accord that would have been prepared without the indispensable basis for a positive conclusion.”
On Sunday, the Germany economy minister Sigmar Gabriel said TTIP negotiations had "de facto failed . . . because we will not give in to American demands".
But the following day, German chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman said negotiations were not finished.
Just as the EU Commission was ordering Apple to pay €13 billion to Dublin for the “fiscal advantages” from which it has benefited, Mr Hollande said the EU “must go farther towards forcing big internet multinationals to pay taxes. They come here to create wealth but they never share the benefits with the countries where it is created.”
Syria conflagration
Mr Hollande warned of the risk of a “general conflagration” in Syria, due to “multiple and contradictory interventions’ by such powers as Russia and Turkey.
“It is absolutely urgent to stop the fighting. France calls here and now for an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
More than 300,000 lives have been lost in the “terrifying tragedy” of Syria, and a “large scale humanitarian catastrophe is now underway in Aleppo,” he added.
Russia supported Bashar al-Assad’s regime by bombarding civilians as well as rebel forces, “which plays into the hands of all kinds of extremists”, Mr Hollande said.
It was “completely understandable” for Turkey to send troops into Syria “to defend itself against Islamic State, after the attacks it has undergone, and to control its border”, Mr Hollande said.
Yet Turkey was also attacking “Kurds who are themselves confronting Islamic State with the support of the coalition”.
The use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime “must be punished”, he said, noting that Paris is preparing a UN Security Council resolution “to condemn these abominable acts and foresee sanctions against their perpetrators”.
Alluding to Chinese and Russian vetoes of resolutions condemning Damascus, Mr Hollande said that “No one, no member of the Security Council, has an interest in the use of chemical weapons becoming commonplace”.