Brexit effects are 'irrevocable,' French minister says

French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said he would welcome the UK rejoining the European Union, but warned that Brexit had “irrevocable” consequences and that Britain could not return on special terms.

Speaking to students at the London School of Economics on Oct. 8, Lescure said he had been “very sad” when the UK chose to leave the EU and would be “very happy” if it came back.

But he said any return would mean accepting “the whole thing,” including EU regulation, particularly rules governing the financial sector.

Lescure said the City of London had been a “great beneficiary of the EU” but that since Brexit it had been overtaken by other financial centres, including Paris, Frankfurt and Dublin. He said there had been “irrevocable consequences” that would be hard to reverse as if nothing had happened.

Lescure is due to attend a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg on Friday. They are expected to give the go-ahead for European supervision of some major stock exchanges on the continent. Lescure said Euronext, which brings together exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Milan, would likely be supervised at EU level.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last month that rejoining the EU was among possible answers to the question of Britain’s future relationship with Europe. Emmanuel Macron responded, “Welcome back.” European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said it was for London to decide a way forward.

An EU–UK summit is set to be held before the end of the year.