The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said it should not be taken for granted that the EU would grant the UK a long extension on its departure from the bloc. Welcoming Ireland’s Leo Varadkar to Paris for talks at the Elysee yesterday, Macron said that as the clock ticked down and a no-deal Brexit became more likely, it was far from evident that the EU would agree to a British request for a further Article 50 extension.
“A long extension, implying the UK takes part in European elections and European institutions, has nothing easy or automatic about it,” Macron said.
“I say that again very strongly. Our priority must be the good functioning of the EU and the single market. The EU can’t be held hostage long-term by the resolution of a political crisis in the UK.”
He continued: “The three times rejection of the withdrawal agreement by the House of Commons and the rejection of all alternative plans now puts us on the path of a UK exit without a deal.
“As the European council decided in March, it’s now up to the UK to present a credible alternative plan backed by a majority before April 10 in order to avoid that. If the UK isn’t capable “almost three years after the referendum” of putting forward a solution that gets a majority, it will have decided itself, de facto, to leave without a deal.
“And we can’t avoid failure for the UK.”
Macron, a pro-European, wants to push forward with his own plans for EU reform and is keen for Brexit not to overshadow all other concerns.
Publicly, he has positioned France as the toughest-talking nation in the Brexit saga, stressing the need for the UK to present a way forward.  Macron said the EU’s priority was protecting its workings and the single market: “We have a future to build together in the EU and a future relationship to build with the UK, which will be an ally, but we can’t spend the next months still trying to fix the rules of our divorce and looking to the past.”
Macron met Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, to discuss no-deal plans for the Irish border as well as how to handle any extension request from Theresa May.
Macron said France and Ireland, as the UK’s neighbours, were the two countries most affected by a potential no-deal exit.  Macron said the EU had total “unity and solidarity” with Ireland.
“We’ll never abandon Ireland and the Irish people, because that solidarity is the very sense of the European project,” he said.
Varadkar stressed there was still time for the British prime minister to come to the European council before April 10 with “credible” proposals, and he said the EU should be open to such proposals.