A no-deal Brexit would hurt Britain more than the rest of Europe no matter how much Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government pretends otherwise, outgoing European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in remarks published on Saturday in the Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper.
Britain has been pressing the European Union to amend the terms of Britain’s withdrawal agreement, saying Brussels would have to take responsibility for a no-deal Brexit if it does not compromise.
But at the end of the day that would do the most harm to Britain, Juncker told the regional newspaper in the Austrian province of Tyrol, where he regularly spends his summer holiday.
He added that a hard Brexit is in no one’s interest and the British would be the big losers. He said British officials were acting as though that were not the case, but it is Juncker told the Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper.
“We are fully prepared even though some in Britain say we are not well set up for a ‘no deal’. But I am not taking part in these little summer games,” said Juncker, who is due to be succeeded by German conservative Ursula von der Leyen once she has put together her Commission.
