Richard Tice responds to Macron's political community comments

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French President Emmanuel Macron has invited the UK and Ukraine to join a new alternative European Union. Under the proposed union, democratic European countries would share EU values but not be a part of the bloc. During a speech on Europe Day in Strasbourg, President Macron raised the suggestion to allow Ukraine to be part of the hypothetical union while its application to join the EU is underway. He also extended the invitation to the United Kingdom only two years after Brexit. But upon hearing the proposal, the leader of Reform UK Richard Tice rejected the invitation outright.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Tice lashed out: “This proposal would make me cry because we’ve just had so much pain and grief trying to leave one European community.

“The idea of joining another one shortly afterwards, you know frankly, thanks but no thanks. 

“As Ms Thatcher said: No, no, no. It feels to me that it’s just another level of bureaucracy, dumbing down our ability to compete. 

“What trampled me, in particular, was the language he [Macron] used. That he would generously – possibly somewhat arrogantly – allow European countries to share the EU chore values, to cooperate on energy and transport and infrastructure and move people.”

In Macron’s words, the political EU “would allow democratic European nations adhering to our set of values to find a new space for political cooperation, security, cooperation in energy, transport, investment, infrastructure, and the movement of people, especially our youth”.

He also pointed out that joining it would not mean a future membership to the European Union.

But Richard Tice said UK’s decision to leave the EU was exactly to not have those policies in place, especially the free movement of people.

“One of the reasons we left was we want to control our own movement of people.”

Mr Tice continued: “So, you know, I thought actually this was rather trivial.

“Given what Macron previously said, the last thing this proposal should come is from him.

“But look we want to compete; we want to outperform. We don’t want to be dumbed down and so, no, I think, thanks but no thanks would be my response.

“No, I don’t want to join another political community.”

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Macron’s proposal comes almost a month after his victory in the French presidential election. Ukraine would also be invited to be part of that union, as its membership application to the European Union “would take several years, in truth doubtless several decades”, Macron said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet the EU executive would give its “opinion” on Ukraine’s membership bid in June.

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