France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire suggests that if veteran British anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage wins this week’s European Parliament election, it may make the management of Brexit more difficult. “When you have Nigel Farage at more than 35 percent of the vote that won’t be easy for the European Union to manage,” said the minister on Tuesday. Opinion polls forecast the popularity of Farage’s newly created Brexit Party to be quite high in comparison with its rivals, including the Conservative Party of Theresa May and Corbyn’s Labour Party.
Le Maire also advises the UK to leave the European Union as soon as possible. France has previously informed about its unwillingness to tolerate repeated extension of the final Brexit date. Moreover, the minister expressed his hopes that the EU election in Britain would lead to further cooperation between parties and reach a final plan of Britain’s exit. “I consider that the British people decided to leave the European Union and the faster Britain leaves the better,” Le Maire said.
“When a separation lasts too long, it stops each member of the couple from calmly rebuilding their life. It’s exactly the same for nations,” continued minister, referring to the scheduled exit date that has been postponed several times. Almost three years after Britain’s vote to leave the EU, the date is now set to the 31 October 2019, as a compromise between French pressures to leave the EU and Germany’s call to wait a longer period. Accordingly, the UK has to take part in the European Parliament elections this week.
