Macron Warns Brexit is 'Grave' for Europe, Says it Could 'Spread' Through EU
French President acknowledges nationalist movement spreading throughout Europe
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French President Emmanuel Macron has admitted fears that other countries in the EU could follow the footsteps of the UK and Brexit describing it as a "grave moment" for Europe, according to sources.
In Macron's coming speech, he will outline the need to defy the bloc’s nationalists movement as he terms Brexit as major ‘wake-up call”.
The ongoing Yellow Vests movement, which has been embarrassing for the French President, has forced him to put the EU election campaign on hold as the crisis continues.
But Macron remains convinced he can crush nationalist rivals.
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According to a source close to Macron's circle as reported by the Express, he said: “The moment is grave. If we Europeans don’t want to see more Brits and become trapped in a blissfully naïve defense of the status quo, then we need to wake up.”
The speech will be held around late February, and early March and is intended as “warning signal” ahead of the Brexit deadline on March 29 and the European parliamentary elections in May.
Aides have claimed that Macron's upcoming speech is the most important since he spoke at the Sorbonne University in Paris in 2017.
Although the subject of Brexit will the focal point of Macron's address, the French leader will not be proposing to break the Brexit stalemate, the source stated.
“The aim of the speech is not for the president to offer new options in Brexit negotiations or some kind of ‘Macron plan.’”
The idea of the speech is to urge European leaders to “draw the lessons from Brexit” by responding to the populist movement spreading throughout Europe.
Macron arrogantly believes Brexit is part of the same phenomenon that led to Trump’s election, failing to see the ant globalist yellow Vest movement is proof that it is not.
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The French leader will also emphasize the need to “pursue the construction of Europe” and to prepare the continent in the face of global threats and competition.
The source added:
“The EU has done the internal regulation rather well, built a nice, peaceful area, with benign trade and regulated competition. But Europe hasn’t yet understood how to carry itself in a brutal world.”
Macron’s European affairs chief said liberal europhiles and right-wing nationalists would inevitably clash in May, according to an interview with the daily Le Monde.
Mrs. Loiseau said: “If you cannot see the nationalist, extremist and demagogic fervor sweeping across Europe, then you have no eyes to see with.”
She warned: “Some in Europe have chosen to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear [to Europe’s societal malaise]. But this silence has allowed for the rise of authoritarian movements.”
“Today, there is a bad wind blowing across Europe. Facing this, two attitudes are possible: we can choose to bury our heads in the sand and seek to succeed on the European stage, or we can choose to confront this bad wind and expose ourselves to criticisms and verbal attacks from some of our rivals.
“The French government has made the latter choice.”
Last month, Macron blasted British people for believing "rubbish" that's "entirely false" about leaving, claiming that Brexit "can't be delivered."
During a "People's Debate" event, which included anti-globalist Yellow Vest protesters, Emmanuel Macron claimed the 2016 referendum tore British society apart after they were fed "false" promises by the Leave campaign.
