Brussels and London preparing for no-deal Brexit
Both the EU Commission and the British government are preparing for a scenario in which Britain leaves the bloc without an agreement. The EU's plans deal among other things with air traffic and the movement of goods and person. London is mobilising soldiers to monitor the flow of imports and exports in an emergency situation. How dangerous is a no-deal Brexit?
Period of grace ends in a hundred days
If reason doesn't prevail in London and the Brexit deal fails in parliament, an absurd situation could be the result, observes columnist Cristian Unteanu in his blog with Adevărul:
“The British are preparing for an extreme scenario: they are deploying military forces (some sources talk of 3,500, other of 10,000 military and special units) that are to be ready to protect the borders or in the event of social unrest. ... We can only hope that the British parliament will find a way to approve the agreement with the EU. The EU won't renegotiate it and the period of grace ends in just 100 days.”
Britannia first doesn't work
The transitional arrangements proposed by the British government are unacceptable, Der Tagesspiegel complains:
“The idea that you can simply continue to enjoy the things you like about the European treaties and get rid of the things that bring other countries more advantages than your own is nothing short of childish. Treaties among states are always mutual arrangements, unless you're talking about a surrender document. We can only shake our heads in wonder at the fact that there are strong forces within Britain's political class that seriously believe a Trump-style 'Britannia first' policy can work.”
EU fencing itself off
The Spectator points out that the EU's contingency plans aren't exactly an act of friendliness:
“Remainers will no doubt be seizing on the EU's plans, saying 'We told you so' and using it as yet more evidence that Britain should not, under any circumstances, embark on a 'no deal' Brexit. But they should pause before they do. They should ask themselves what this memo tells us about the EU. Far from promoting world trade and free movement, the EU has allowed itself to develop a fortress mentality. It seeks to become a single, federal state, but one which is pretty well fenced off from the rest of the world. It is that mentality which Brexit should give us the chance to escape.”