We use your sign-up to provide content in ways that you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. The French President suggested that it is of existential importance for Europe not to compromise the Northern Ireland protocol. He also described the measures, introduced to avoid a hard border by effectively keeping Northern Ireland in the EU s single market, as a question of war and peace for Ireland Lithuania on the brink of state emergency as a migrant crisis escalates, as a matter of war and peace for Ireland Lithuania on the brink of state emergency.
The French President is not aware of the challenges and complexity of Northern Ireland, according to UK sources.
According to a senior Whitehall source, the comments were of an existential importance for Europe not to compromise when it comes to our single market, the integrity of that, otherwise there are no more rules at the borders.
We should avoid the temptation to be less than serious.