French Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau has offered tacit encouragement to EU loyalists who wish to derail Brexit, saying that Britain could still decide to remain a full member of the bloc even at this late stage in the Brexit negotiations.
“We have always said, always, that the door would remain open and that we were not the ones who wanted to diverge from the United Kingdom. It was the British people who decided to leave the European Union,” she said in an exchange on the BBC’s Today programme, as reported by the left-liberal Guardian.
Asked if this meant British politicians could still decide to keep the country in the EU on its current terms, she replied: “Sure, of course. [Like] every single member state of the European Union, we have one conviction, which is that the best possible status is being a member, the most profitable status.”
Loiseau also suggested that the European Union considered that ‘No Deal’ was better than a bad deal, much like Theresa May before she adopted her current strategy of attempting to appease the bloc by offering an ultra-soft Brexit.
“I do remember Prime Minister May saying that no-deal was better than a bad deal. It’s among the bad solutions but I should say that no-deal is not as bad as a bad deal for the European Union as well,” she said.
“We would all suffer, the worst would be for the United Kingdom but we get prepared for a no-deal because until now we have seen no significant progress regarding the withdrawal agreement which would relieve us from this concern that there could be a no-deal [exit].”
The Frenchwoman’s belief that the British would be the main loser in a ‘No Deal’ scenario is not shared by all EU leaders, however.
Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó has previously warned that it would be the EU which would be hit hardest, as the bloc sells more to the United Kingdom than vice versa and could lose market share to global economies through the UK signing trade deals with alternative partners.
Cardiff University’s Professor Patrick Minford has also claimed a long-term boost for the United Kingdom of some £641 billion from ‘No Deal’ in savings on EU budget contributions, trade gains, etc., while the EU would lose out to the tune of £507 billion.
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