Mr Sarkozy said it was crazy to just let Europe’s second biggest economy walk away without a fight – and that MEPs should put a stop to Brexit divorce negotiations and draw up a new treaty to woo back the UK and help build “tomorrow’s Europe”.
He said: “We are losing Europe’s second-largest economy, the UK, and the only thing we’re interested in is the divorce agreement. Not once have we asked ourselves whether this divorce is avoidable. Because I know that it is.”
Mr Sarkozy, who was in power from 2007 to 2012 before being replaced by leftist François Hollande, said a ‘new Europe’ was needed, one which scrapped out of date rules and recognised nation states’ concerns on the economy, immigration and federalism.
And the new treaty must be drawn up before the crunch European Parliament elections in May 2019, Mr Sarkozy told the French weekly Le Point adding: “We have one priority: put a new treaty on the table to define the Europe of tomorrow and profoundly change the rules of the game.”
This new “simplified” EU treaty, he continued, could give Britain a chance to reverse Brexit and stay within an improved Europe.
This “new Europe” should focus on improving the implementation of single market measures, the ex-president said, adding that Brussels should oversee “around 10” major policies, such as agriculture, trade and research, but that the rest should be “without exception the responsibility of member states”.
Mr Sarkozy has called in the past for a new EU treaty that would focus on reforming the Schengen border-free zone, restricting the EU Commission’s remit to a dozen prerogatives, boosting eurozone integration and freezing membership talks with Turkey.
But there is now greater urgency in his plea as the Brexit deadline – March 2019 – draws closer.
The French right-winger, whose predilection for money and glitz helped earn him the nickname “President Bling-Bling,” refused to criticise France’s current leader, 40-year-old centrist Emmanuel Macron, who the opposition has branded “the president of the rich”.
“I am no longer in the political arena. I know how hard it is to satisfy voters’ expectations [and make good on campaign promises] in the wake of an election. And so I will refrain from criticising him. Plus, I feel as though he has received his fair share of criticism lately … Destroying is so easy,” he said.
But Mr Sarkozy also warned Mr Macron against becoming hooked on power.
Presidential power is “dangerous, because it can become a drug,” Mr Sarkozy warned, before urging the French to give their young leader “more time” to deliver on his pledges and make his mark.
“Let’s give him time … the French will deliver their verdict at the next election,” he said.
Mr Macron has had a difficult start to the autumn political season.
He is still struggling to bounce back from a scandal-plagued summer and controversial cabinet reshuffle that badly dented his image and derailed his reform plans.