Slovakia to prepare for “hard” Brexit

Slovakia to prepare for “hard” Brexit

Even though the government of the British Prime Minister Theresa May survived the no-confidence vote on Wednesday, according to political analysts, Britain remains in a Brexit deadlock. Since the original Brexit deal has been rejected, the PM May has only a few days to present a Brexit plan B. The Slovak Foreign Ministry noted with regret that the plan had been rejected, in spite of more assurances offered by the EU on the Irish border backstop. The Slovak PM Peter Pellegrini also viewed with regret the result of the voting on the original deal. For Monday, January 21, he has summoned a meeting of the co-ordination group for Brexit to talk about minimizing the negative impact on Slovakia if a so-called "hard Brexit" scenario takes place.

According to the opposition MP Miroslav Beblavý, the Government should pass protective economic measures to shield Slovak citizens from a potential hard Brexit and draft a clear roadmap for ministries, while protecting Slovaks living in the United Kingdom. Currently, there are around 100 thousand Slovaks living in the UK, moreover, Great Britain is one of Slovakia's most important trading partners.

Tatra Banka analyst Tibor Lorincz thinks that the possibility of "extreme solutions" will increase as the Brexit date approaches. "Scrapping Brexit, or delaying it, maybe indefinitely, would be the best solution for the Slovak economy," said Lorincz. J&T Bank analyst Stanislav Panis believes that London staying in the EU would be the best scenario for the EU, as well as for the Slovak economy. On the other hand, a hard Brexit would negatively affect Slovakia's exports to Britain, slowing down under the influence of customs duties and general deceleration of the British and EU economies.


Zuzana Botiková, Photo: AP/TASR

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