Ireland and Belgium urge bloc to prepare for double blow from UK no-deal exit and pandemic
EU member states including Ireland are urging Brussels to take into account the shock of a hard Brexit in addition to the pandemic in its response to the bloc’s gravest postwar economic slump.
Diplomats from Ireland and Belgium have said in recent discussions addressing the bloc’s budget and €750bn recovery fund that they could be doubly hit by the UK’s no-deal departure from the EU and the economic fallout from the pandemic. Their interventions are complicating already fraught discussions over the bloc’s co-ordinated response to the devastating impact of restrictions implemented to combat the spread of the disease.
The eurozone economy is predicted to shrink 8.7 per cent this year — a record postwar recession. Ireland and Belgium rank among the economies that would be hard hit by a sudden disruption to trade with the UK in 2021.
The prospect of a no-deal Brexit has come into view as talks between the two sides have stalled in recent weeks. The UK is due to exit its post-Brexit transition period at the end of the year and the British government has insisted it will not seek a negotiating extension. Since March, UK and EU negotiators have led four rounds of talks that have resulted in little progress. With six months to go until Britain’s Brexit transition period expires, there are growing concerns over a messy no-deal departure.
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