Emmanuel Macron Can Play Brexit Poker, Too
The French president's tough stance ahead of an Oct. 31 deadline is part of a strategy to apply maximum pressure without slamming the door shut.
Poker faces.
Photographer: Jeanne Frank/Bloomberg
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ploy to bully the European Union into a more generous Brexit deal by vowing to leave the bloc on Oct. 31 was always a long shot. His lack of a clear majority in the U.K. Parliament, key to ratifying any withdrawal agreement, gave Brussels no incentive to shift on its negotiating red lines. Johnson’s no-deal exit threats, instead of sowing panic among EU leaders, have only turned scores of his own MPs against him. Far from telling Brussels to go whistle, he is now being forced to ask for a delay.
Attention is therefore shifting to how EU leaders, especially France’s Emmanuel Macron, would react to a request for an extension — which would be the third time Brexit has been pushed back since March. Throughout the Brexit mess, Macron has played bad cop to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s good cop, fighting for as strict an extension as possible to make sure his vision of a more integrated and assertive EU isn’t thwarted by a member state with one foot out the door. With Johnson’s unruly behavior vindicating those warnings, Macron has more reason to say “non” this time.