LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s impending departure from the European Union and a business warning about Brexit’s fallout (all times local):
1:25 p.m.
Germany says it may be possible to stick to the current timetable for negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union for next March, but much work still needs to be done.
Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer says Friday that “on many important questions, no sufficient progress has been made so far. That means there’s a lot of work left to do by autumn.”
She added: “we’re working on the assumption that the timetable is still feasible, we’re working on it with all our strength.” Demmer cited the question of how to treat the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland as one of the main unresolved issues.
The UK’s so-called Brexit from the EU, meant to occur on March 29, 2019, has fallen far below domestic and other European issues on the German government’s agenda.
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10:00 a.m.
Germany’s main business lobby group is warning that Britain is on course for a “disorderly Brexit” and urging its government to stop playing for time.
Joachim Lang, the director general of the Federation of German Industries, said Friday there’s a serious danger of Brussels and London ending up empty-handed in March, when Britain is due to leave the European Union.
He said in a statement that “two years after the referendum, the United Kingdom is heading unchecked for a disorderly Brexit.”
Lang said London should accept that only remaining in the EU’s customs union and internal market would enable it to resolve the key question of the Irish border.
He said “the British government is still playing for time. This strategy leads to disaster. A clear course correction is necessary.”
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8:45 a.m.
Aviation giant Airbus has threatened to leave Britain if the country leaves the European Union without an agreement on future trading relations.
The company, which employs about 14,000 people at 25 sites in the U.K., says it will “reconsider its long-term footprint in the country” if there is no deal. Airbus also says the currently proposed transition deal that runs through December 2020 is too short for the company to reorganize its supply chain.
The statements were made in the company’s Brexit risk assessment, published Thursday.
Tom Williams, chief operating officer of Airbus Commercial Aircraft, says “in any scenario, Brexit has severe negative consequences for the U.K. aerospace industry and Airbus in particular. Therefore, immediate mitigation measures would need to be accelerated.”