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Macron has decidedly chosen to be the person who tells it like it is in Europe. “It’s up to the prime minister and her teams to come back to the EU,” he merely stated at the conclusion of the European Council on Thursday afternoon, where nothing seemed to have happened.
Unlike Theresa May, who believes that the negotiation is ongoing, Macron stressed the United Kingdom’s responsibility for the lack of agreement.
“It’s an issue of British political capacity to reach a presentable agreement. It’s not up to the EU to make concessions to deal with a British domestic policy issue,” he insisted.
A few minutes earlier, the less direct German Chancellor Angela Merkel put forward a similar idea by stating that “when there was a will, there was a way,” half-heartedly questioning the lack of political cohesion behind the British prime minister.
“Our organisation has already shown its effectiveness and its flexibility. Now we know our limits: we don’t want an agreement which calls into question the integrity of the single market, or the four freedoms, or which does damage to Ireland. It’s up to the United Kingdom to propose a solution with respect to these constraints. It’s no longer a technical issue,” said Macron. [...]