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Brexit, so what?: German firms expect little fallout, says poll

The IW poll comes after Prime Minister Theresa May warned continental European countries

Reuters January 23, 2017

Britain is set to become the first European Union member to leave the bloc following a referendum last year. PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN: A large majority of German companies expect Britain’s divorce from the European Union to cause little if any damage to their business, according to a poll published by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW) on Monday.

The IW poll comes after Prime Minister Theresa May warned continental European countries that they stood to lose from Brexit if they failed to offer Britain a reasonable deal. She said there are voices in Europe wanting a “punitive deal” that punished Britain and discourages others from taking the same path.

“That would be an act of calamitous self-harm for the countries of Europe,” she said in a speech on January 17. But the IW survey, entitled ‘Brexit, so what?’ found that more than 90% of the 2,900 companies surveyed either said they expected no damage at all or very little harm.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2017.

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