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So where is France in all the #Brexit madness? Conversations in Paris earlier this week suggest that there is little belief in France that @BorisJohnson will move enough to allow a deal before next month’s Council. Some officials cling to a faint hope that there could yet be a 1/
breakthrough but President Macron is said to have lost faith. Sources say @EmmanuelMacron believed after their Elysée meeting in August that Johnson would shift towards EU/Irish position. A couple of weeks ago, Macron thought that the UK was moving significantly. No longer 2/
“We thought that we we’re getting somewhere but now it’s become a comedy auction,” one senior French official said. “We reject a proposal as unacceptable and the UK comes back asking for more.” 3/
The French will “read with great interest” the detail of the Boris Masterplan on Thursday. Some officials hope for a “pleasant surprise”, going beypond last week’s UK “non-papers”. Others fear that Johnson is engaged in a sham negotiation for UK public consumption 4/
They say that any new Withdrawal Agreement must replicate the three key elements of the Backstop – no hard border in Ireland, no threat to EU Single Market and a legally watertight text. The proposals in the UK non-papers last week failed to meet these tests 5/
The sources say Macron is anxious but not desperate for a deal. He fears an endless prolongation of the #Brexit saga, which will “take of all the air and space” he needs for his EU reform ideas. He wants to maintain good relations with UK, partly for defence & security reasons 6/
But he is not willing to accept any price or abandon the “three principles” above. He does not fear a No Deal Brexit – “much less than Merkel does, for instance” 7/
Macron is also deeply uncomfortable with Benn Act, which puts EU capitals in the awkward position of dealing with a dissident parliament, not a fellow Govt. The @10DowningStreet/Mail on Sunday suggestion that Benn Act was partially drafted by French diplomats is dismissed... 8/
in Paris as “manifestly absurd”. Nonetheless, the cautious view in Paris is that Macron will, reluctantly go along with an EU27 decision to agree another Art 50 extension – but only if it’s absolutely clear that a UK election will follow ENDS
