Germany 'Nearly Completed' Preparations For No-Deal Brexit - Reports

Germany is wrapping up preparations for what it expects to be a disorderly Brexit in October, local media said Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) Germany is wrapping up preparations for what it expects to be a disorderly Brexit in October, local media said Thursday.

In a memo, seen by the Handelsblatt newspaper, the Finance Ministry said there was "a high degree of possibility" that the United Kingdom would quit the European Union without a deal.

Preparations for this eventuality in Berlin and Brussels have been "nearly completed," the document said. No extra measures or changes to the existing contingency plan are expected.

The ministry also said that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson saw the G7 summit in late August as his "big moment" to present the Irish backstop provision as make or break for the future of the UK-EU divorce deal.

"In the light of the above, it is important from the EU perspective to maintain its current position" that the withdrawal agreement should not be reopened for more talks, the authority stressed.

It added that even if the contentious provision, which seeks to avoid a hard Irish border, were scrapped, this did not guarantee that the reworked deal would clear the UK parliament in time for the October 31 exit.