France won't bend to UK demands despite 'lose-lose' Brexit

ONE of the sillier things written about Brexit is that Europeans want to "punish" the UK or that there is any belief that, being rid of Britain, Europe can now fulfil its destiny of ever closer union and move towards a single unified entity.

Nothing is further from the truth. Brexit accelerates the centrifugal forces already present in Europe. It gives a huge boost to the kind of protectionism apparent in the decision to veto the planned EU-Canada trade deal by the Parliament of Wallonia, one of Belgium's five regional legislatures.

In the last weeks I have spent time in Paris with several politicians, including President François Hollande, and with the governor of the Banque de France, French government trade negotiators, and senior business leaders, as part of research for a new book on the impact of Brexit on Europe. I have drawn the following conclusions.