BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – The FDP in the Bundestag has asked the federal government to immediately submit an emergency plan in the event that the Brexit negotiations between the EU and Great Britain on a trade pact fail. Both Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) would have the opportunity to do so in the budget debate on Wednesday, said FDP foreign policy expert Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of the German Press Agency in Berlin. The government must create clarity for citizens, authorities and companies as soon as possible. “We are all hoping for a last-minute agreement, but Germany should be better prepared for any scenario.”
Despite intensive negotiations, there has so far been no breakthrough for the trade agreement sought between the EU and the United Kingdom, said the deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group. “The failure of the Brexit negotiations is still a realistic scenario for which the German government must prepare our country.” It is incomprehensible why she has so far refrained from submitting an emergency plan for a no-deal Brexit with appropriate measures. “Especially in times of Corona, any further economic shock must be prevented or at least mitigated.”
This Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to visit EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels in the evening to pave the way for a deal./sk/DP/zb
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