Britain will risk losing access to Europe’s common market if it votes to leave the EU, French President François Hollande said Wednesday, warning that a Brexit would be “irreversible”.
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Speaking after a “crisis meeting” of senior government ministers and European Union staff, Hollande said “all the conclusions must be drawn” from the outcome of the referendum Thursday in Britain, whereby close to 52 percent of voters said they wanted to opt out of the EU.
Hollande said he had “stepped up contacts with the concerned parties” regarding the British referendum.
Hollande was speaking at a joint news conference with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose country will take over the EU’s rotating presidency on 1 July.
For far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen, who hailed Britain’s Brexit vote as a “victory for freedom”, change means scrapping the euro, leaving the Schengen border-free area and carrying out a referendum on European Union membership.
He met earlier Wednesday with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country now holds the EU’s rotating presidency, “to discuss the consequences of the referendum and initiatives that should be taken for Europe whatever the result”, Hollande’s office said.
Hollande was speaking on the eve of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom, which will decide whether or not Britain remains a member of the European union.
“What I’m asking for is a referendum in France”.
Far-right party leader Marine Le Pen, whom opinion polls see topping the first round of 2017 presidential elections but lose the run-off, has been pressing for France to hold its own referendum on European Union membership.
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Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation Friday morning after British voters defied his advice and decided.
