EU cannot be 'held hostage' to Brexit crisis: Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday warned the European Union could not "be held hostage" to the Brexit crisis and said that a lengthy extension of the deadline for Britain to leave the bloc was "not a certainty".

Speaking during a visit to Paris by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, the French leader said: "The EU cannot be held hostage to the resolution of a political crisis in the United Kingdom on a long-term basis."

He added that France was "open" to a lengthy extension of the Brexit deadline on certain conditions but that it was "neither a certainty nor automatic. I am repeating it here with conviction.