Macron: 'Pragmatism Will Determine Our New Relationship' With Post-Brexit UK

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that pragmatism will determine the French relations with the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit era.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Macron said he was prepared to be pragmatic on the United Kingdom and cooperate with it after London leaves the European Union, in an interview with European outlets.

"Pragmatism will determine our new relationship," the newly-elected president told The Guardian and several other newspapers on Wednesday.

Macron won this spring’s election on a pro-EU platform. He said France would continue to strengthen cooperation with the United Kingdom but stressed there would be no going back once London was out of the EU door.

On EU future without Britain, the centrist said he expected Paris and Berlin to reenergize the EU project by promoting "greater economic and social wellbeing." This will include tackling the influx of low-paid workers from Eastern Europe who, he said, undermined EU's popularity in the West.

UK voters supported the country’s exit from the 28-nation bloc on promises to end uncontrolled immigration from less well-off EU member states. Formal talks on Brexit terms began in Brussels this Monday, with the exit expected to take place by the end of March 2019.