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Brexit vote a 'grave test for Europe' says France's Hollande

Europe has to show 'solidity and strength' in its response to the economic and financial risks, the French president said after cabinet meeting.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

French president François Hollande said Friday that Britain’s vote to leave the EU was a “grave test for Europe” in view of the economic and financial consequences, reports the New Straits Times.

“The British vote poses a grave test for Europe, which must show solidity and strength in its response to the economic and financial risks,” Hollande said after meeting with his cabinet. Expressing his chagrin over the vote, he said:

“It always takes less time to undo than to do, to destroy than to build.” But “the choice is theirs, and we must respect it,” the socialist president said.

Echoing foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault’s tweet earlier Friday that Europe must win back the trust of its people, Hollande said “the decision also requires a lucid awareness of the inadequacies of Europe’s functioning and people’s loss of trust in the project.”

Brexit could also further support for far-right elements in the EU, he warned, saying: “There is a huge danger in the face of extremism and populism.”
Read more of this report from the New Straits Times.