Angela Merkel said the EU should be prepared for a no trade deal Brexit on Wednesday, the day after Boris Johnson warned the German Chancellor that Britain was “ready” to walk away without an agreement.
I will continue to push for a good solution, but we should also prepare for a possible no deal scenario, Mrs Merkel said in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Progress in negotiations so far has been slim to put it diplomatically,” Mrs Merkel said, as she set out plans for Germany’s six month EU Presidency.
She added,We’ve agreed with the United Kingdom to accelerate the pace of talks to reach an agreement by autumn, an agreement that could be ratified by the end of the year.
Mr Johnson has been adamant that he will not allow the discussions to drag on into the autumn, arguing that British businesses and citizens need certainty on the way forward before then.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister told Mrs Merkel that the UK “would be ready” to leave the transition period at the end of the year on Australian terms the Government’s preferred expression for leaving without a trade deal.
A Downing Street spokesman said, “On the future relationship, the Prime Minister underlined the UK’s commitment to working hard to find an early agreement out of the intensified talks process.
He also noted that the UK equally would be ready to leave the transition period on Australia terms if an agreement could not in the end be reached.
“We will do our utmost to ensure that an agreement can be reached with the United Kingdom,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, told MEPs in Brussels.