'Nobody has to leave!' EU expert claims bloc was never going to collapse after Brexit

AN EXPERT on EU affairs has suggested that the bloc was never going to collapse after Britain's momentous vote to leave.

EU expert claims EU was never going to collapse after Brexit

Yves Bertoncini, Director of the Jacques Delors Institute, a pro-EU think-tank has hailed ’s French election victory to stop the myth that Brexit would break up the EU. 

The French President, a pro-EU centrist, defeated in the French Election and has previously vowed to take a tough stance over Brexit negotiations. 

Mr Bertoncini insisted that no one else has to leave the bloc to resolve current issues. 

Speaking to TV5Monde, he said: “The victory of Emmanuel Macron from this point of view is a stop to the idea that Europe would dislocate after the vote in favour of that would make other countries want to leave the EU as well.

Yves Bertoncini, Theresa May and EU leadersTV5MONDE•GETTY

The EU expert claimed the EU was never going to collapse because of Brexit

“It was a story that I never believed because I think there was a British exception and what Europeans face today is a co-owner crisis. 

“That is 27 countries who disagree on the eurozone crisis and how to face it and also on the refugee crisis. 

“A co-owner's crisis can be serious, but nobody has to leave.”

The expert on affairs continued suggesting that Mr Macron’s victory told “the rest of the world” the “idea” that the EU was going to end, was over. 

He added: “Beyond that, he has a rather ambitious agenda for the next few years. 

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I think there was a British exception and what Europeans face today is a co-owner crisis

Yves Bertoncini

“There is another fairly important element in his victory: the fracture with the euroscepticism. 

“However, it still exists in and in Europe.”

The German Chancellor has met with new French President, Mr Macron and said that she would work closer with the centrist, claiming it was a “critical moment” for the bloc. 

Mrs Merkel reiterated that both countries wanted to develop a “roadmap” to deepen EU integration whilst working to reform the bloc if it was necessary. 

Mr Bertoncini finished by claiming that Mr Macron’s attitude towards the EU was important in its success. 

“The EU is based on its member states. If member states do not go well if France does not go well, the EU can not go well either,” he said.

“And Macron goes against Euroscepticism, and the idea that we are not going to improve and that if we fail, it's Europe's fault.

“The mere fact that he stops blaming the EU will not solve our problems or the EU’s problems, but it is a good political gesture.”

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