The EU27 are far less prepared for no-deal Brexit than you’d think

As 29 March gets nearer and Theresa May tries to get a Brexit deal through parliament, preparations for no deal continue in both London and mainland Europe. It’s been well-documented that the UK government’s preparations haven’t been optimal, and many British companies aren’t really prepared for no deal. However, on the other side of the Channel, things aren’t going all that well either.

Here is an overview of the EU27’s no-deal plans:

Germany

In Germany, the government decided to hire an extra 900 customs officials (trade unions claim that 1300 are needed) to prepare for no deal, but at the end of January, none of these had been employed yet.

‘In no other country is the effect on overall employment as big as it is in Germany’, economics professor Oliver Holtemöller has concluded, commenting on his study that said no deal would cause 100,000 job losses. It’s making German industry nervous. Eric Schweitzer, president of Germany’s chamber of industry and trade last month warned that ‘around 750,000 German jobs depend on free trade with the UK… without a deal, millions of Euros would be due in customs’ registration fees and billions in duty.’