EU leaders to UK: Brexit will come at a price

Jean-Claude Juncker warns against ‘secret negotiations in dark rooms.’

PARIS — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned Britain on Friday that the EU would be “intransigent” during Brexit talks, echoing tough remarks from the leaders of France and Germany.

“It must be clear that if Britain wants access to the internal market, all the rules and freedoms around the internal market must be totally respected,” Juncker said in Paris during a joint press conference with French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

“On that point we must be intransigent. I see the maneuvers [by Britain to start informal Brexit talks] … You cannot have one foot in and one foot out. If we start to dismantle the internal market by agreeing to the demands of a country that wants to leave, then we will be bringing about the end of Europe,” he added.

Juncker’s comments, which Valls echoed during his speech, coincided with a ramping up of pressure on Britain from European leaders following Prime Minister Theresa May’s remarks that her country was headed for a “hard” Brexit. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Britain would have to respect all EU principles to retain access to its markets, French President François Hollande spoke in even harsher terms of a “price” to pay for leaving the bloc.

“There needs to be a threat, there needs to be a risk, there needs to be a price,” Hollande said late Thursday in a speech given during a ceremony for the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris. “Britain has decided to do Brexit, even a ‘hard’ Brexit, as I understand it, well, then, we must go to the end of Britain’s desire to exit the European Union.”

Juncker added a warning against any attempt by Britain to try to circumvent the formal negotiating process.

“Britain, its government … are already explaining to industrial companies on the continent that relations must be as friendly as possible,” he said. But “it shouldn’t be that entire sections of European industry get involved in secret negotiations in dark rooms, with the blinds drawn, with envoys from the British government.”

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