EU Preparations for a "No Deal" Brexit

Jane Lambert

Hardly a day goes by without an avalanche of emails from the Department for Exiting the European Union on HM Government's preparations for a "no-deal" exit from the European Union. By contrast, the European Commission's output is much smaller.  The reason for the disparity in volume is obvious.  As the Commission's press release of 12 June 2019 points out, a withdrawal without an agreement in accordance with art 50 (2) of the Treaty on European Union "will obviously cause significant disruption for citizens and businesses and would have a serious negative economic impact." However, the press release also notes that such serious negative economic impact will "be proportionally much greater in the United Kingdom than in the EU27 Member States."

According to its press release, the Commission has been preparing for such a scenario since December 2017:

"To date, the Commission has tabled 19 legislative proposals, 18 of which have been adopted by the European Parliament and Council. Political agreement has been reached on the remaining proposal – the contingency Regulation on the EU budget for 2019, which is expected to be formally adopted later this month. The Commission has also adopted 63 non-legislative acts and published 93 preparedness notices."

It summarized its preparations in a press release of 10 April 2019.

The Commission has reviewed its preparations in view of the extension of the notification period until 31 Oct 2019 and "concluded that there is no need to amend any measures on substance and that they remain fit for purpose." The press release adds that the Commission does not plan any new measures ahead of the new withdrawal date.   The Commission has also completed a tour of the capitals of the 27 remaining states and found a high degree of preparation by member states for all scenarios.

The press release has focused on the following topics that require continued and particular vigilance:

• Citizens' residence and social security entitlements, 
• Medicinal products, medical devices and chemical substances,
• Customs, indirect taxation and border inspection posts,
• Transport,
• Fishing, and
• Financial services.

For British citizens residing in the EU, the Commission has published a useful webpage on EU27 Member States measures on residence rights of legally residing UK nationals and social security entitlements related to the UK in case of no deal. As for other matters, border posts are in place, planes will continue to fly and land unhindered between the UK and EU member states for the time being and financial institutions in London are making such preparations as may be necessary to continue operations in the EU.

As many of these preparations will have to be implemented by member states, the Commission has a convenient portal to the national brexit preparedness websites of each of those countries.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article or brexit, in general, can call me during office hours on 020 7404 5252 or send a message through my contact page.