Macron wants to avoid Brexit 'polluting' EU after 31 October

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has said he wants to avoid Brexit “polluting” the EU after 31 October, and that European leaders need to know when the UK’s prolonged departure will come to an end. In April, Macron stood alone at a meeting of the EU27 in championing a short Brexit extension in opposition to those willing to give the UK until next year to complete its withdrawal. The October deadline for the British government to have ratified the withdrawal agreement or face a no-deal exit was a compromise position brokered with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Macron, in a sign of the frustration in Brussels at the risk posed to its future agenda by the UK’s continued membership, told the Belgian newspaper Le Soir the EU needed a clear end date to the continuing saga.