UK Edition
I'll offer Britain a new EU treaty and a chance to say no to Brexit, Sarkozy promises
Nicolas Sarkozy has pledged to give Britain a chance to reverse Brexit by negotiating a new treaty for the European Union with Germany, if the former French president is re-elected in 2017.
Mr Sarkozy, who is campaigning for the nomination of his centre-Right Republicans party, said the new treaty would focus on reforming the Schengen passport-free zone, restricting the European Commission's remit to a dozen prerogatives, integrating the eurozone further and halting membership talks with Turkey.
In comments to business leaders in Paris, the 61-year old said he would fly to Britain if elected with a draft of new EU treaty the day after the second ballot of the presidential election to secure the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"I would tell the British, you've gone out, but we have a new treaty on the table so you have an opportunity to vote again," Mr Sarkozy is cited as saying by the Financial Times.
"But this time not on the old Europe, on the new Europe. Do you want to stay? If yes, so much the better. Because I can't accept to lose Europe's second-largest economy while we are negotiating with Turkey over its EU membership. And if it's no, then it's a real no. You're in or you're out."
The comments echo those he made earlier this month on BFM TV, when he said: "If we have a base for a new EU treaty I will then go the UK to tell them this is the opportunity to do a new referendum to see if they want to link Britain to Europe."
Mr Sarkozy also said he wanted to end EU accession negotiations with Turkey, saying: "Perhaps it's time to say to Turkey that its place is in Asia. I am a fervent European. I will never accept leaving the euro but Europe isn't working at all," he declared.
The former French president, in office from 2007 to 2012, is trailing his centre-Right rival Alain Juppé, a former prime minister, in polls ahead of primaries for their party on November 20 and 27.
After apparently closing the gap in recent weeks, two polls out this week suggest he has lost ground to Mr Juppé in the first round and would be roundly beaten in the run-off.
The winner of the primary race stands a high chance of going on to win the presidential race, current poll suggest, most likely in a run-off against Marine Le Pen, the far-Right Front National leader.
Britain voted to leave the EU on June 23 and Theresa May has so far repeated that the formal divorce notification will not be sent before the end of the year. Some aides have suggested her plan is to invoke Article 50 early in 2017
Mrs May has repeatedly said that "Brexit means Brexit".
The current French and German governments have insisted they view Brexit as irreversible. Berlin, Paris and their EU partners have also made clear they do not foresee undertaking politically sensitive changes to the EU treaty in the foreseeable future.
"I don't see how one country can ask another to hold a new vote. It is up to the British to decide this," said French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll , adding that it was "difficult to follow (Mr Sarkozy's) logic."
Ms Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said the German government's view that Brexit was irreversible had not changed.
A senior EU official told Reuters: "No one is talking about keeping Britain in now. Mrs. May has said 'Brexit means Brexit' and we don't see how politically the British can reverse course. No one is expecting a miracle."
A Sarkozy aide insisted the former president was not trying to tell London what to do and his proposals were important for the EU as a whole, not only for Britain.
"It's on the basis of this new Europe that we could reconcile the people - British and others - with the European project," the adviser told Reuters.