Collapse in the negotiations on a partnership agreement is now all but inevitable

Business on both sides of the Channel must now prepare itself for bilateral trade without an agreement under WTO rules, says BDI Director General Joachim Lang after the sixth round of Brexit talks.

"The sixth round of Brexit negotiations was more than a disappointment for the German economy. On key points, such as competition conditions in the future, London has repeatedly diverged from the political declaration. A collapse in the negotiations on a partnership agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom is now all but inevitable. Too many political and technical issues remain unsettled for them to be solved in time.

The imperative of the hour for the German government and the EU is to bundle all their forces and to focus all their attention on the essential emergency measures. Business on both sides of the Channel must now prepare itself for bilateral trade without an agreement under WTO rules.

German industry does not believe that the United Kingdom will complete the public infrastructure for cross-border goods traffic in time. The latest plans on the part of the British are incomplete. This means that companies are faced with new customs duties, additional bureaucracy and an economic disaster."

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