France's François Hollande plotted EU's Brexit revenge: 'There must be a price!'?

At the end of last month, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen warned the EU will not hesitate to use the “real teeth” in the Brexit deal to punish the UK Government for breaching its pact obligations. As MEPs prepared to vote on the historic agreement, marking the end of four years of high political drama, Ms von der Leyen said: “This agreement comes with real teeth with a binding dispute settlement mechanism and the possibility for unilateral remedial measures where necessary. “And let me be very clear: we do not want to have to use these tools, but we will not hesitate to use them if necessary. They are essential to ensure full compliance with the [trade and cooperation agreement], and with the withdrawal agreement, which both were negotiated in such fine details and agreed by both sides."

Since the end of the transition period on January 1, the UK Government has been accused of breaching its commitments in Northern Ireland and on an agreement on fisheries.

However, Brexiteers believe it is all part of a worrying pattern.

Ever since Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, Brexiteers have accused Brussels of wanting to harm the UK during the Brexit talks as a deterrent to other countries that might have been thinking of getting out.

Speaking at the Jacques Delors Institute in Paris in October, 2016, former French President François Hollande claimed that Britain had to pay a price for leaving the EU.

At a dinner attended by former President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Mr Hollande said: "There must be a threat, there must be a risk, there must be a price, otherwise we will be in negotiations that will not end well and, inevitably, will have economic and human consequences.

“Britain has decided on a Brexit, I believe even a hard Brexit.

"Well, we must go all the way with Britain’s will to leave the European Union.”

Mr Hollande had long insisted that Britain had to live with the consequences of exiting the EU.

He added that "firmness" was absolutely necessary otherwise “the principles of the European Union will be questioned” and “other countries or other parties will be minded to leave the European Union in order to have the supposed benefits and no downsides or rules”.

His speech marked the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Institut Jacques Delors, a think tank founded by the former President of the European commission.

Mr Hollande said Delors "had also faced a crisis provoked by the United Kingdom”, noting that in the Eighties, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher obtained a rebate on its EU contributions worth billions of pounds every year.

He said: "Thatcher wanted to remain in Europe, but received a cheque in return.

JUST IN: EU's 'trap' in handing Italy first recovery-fund tranche exposed

“Today, Britain wants to leave, but does not want to pay anything. That is not possible.”

Before the June 23 referendum, senior European bureaucrats also produced an internal nine-page non-paper of measures that were planned to be so harsh that "no other member state would ever dare to quit the EU".

One Luxembourgish official told EURACTIV: "The Brits wanted special treatment.

"Well, they are going to get it.”

The “revenge list” was prepared in total secrecy, under orders from the highest levels of the Commission.

Referring to former Prime Minister David Cameron's tactic of using the threat of Brexit to bring EU reform, an Irish official said: “Cameron thinks he can play hardball with the EU – well the EU is going to hit him hard.

DON'T MISS:
Claim UK households would be £4,300 worse off proved to be wrong [REVEALED]
Dan Wootton condemned BBC as 'blundering woke mess' [INSIGHT]
Swexit threat could be issued over EU's bullying of UK [ANALYSIS]

“We got the idea after binge-watching House of Cards on Netflix."

The executive was also planning a multi-million euro propaganda war to story up to its shaken foundations and reassert the European project.

The working slogan for the media blitz was “EU: Better off without the Brits.”

Another high-ranking German source said: “Since Brexit, Britain won’t be being the sick man of Europe, it will be being the dead man of Europe.

“It will hurt the eurozone, yes.

"But you can’t underestimate the good feeling about the EU this will create.”

The European Commission has a policy of not commenting on leaks.

However, at the time, officials stressed that the revenge list was a draft internal document.

One said: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

“But it is no secret that political will for this exists."