EU ready for ‘no-deal’ Brexit, bloc’s incoming chief says

The European Union has completed contingency preparations for any ‘no-deal’ Brexit, the incoming head of the European Commission said on Tuesday.

Announcing her team to lead the next EU executive, Ursula von der Leyen said she would ask the bloc’s current Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier to continue in his role, Reuters reported.

The next head of the EU also said the next steps on Brexit are entirely in the hands of the United Kingdom. She said the EU had never wanted Brexit to happen but respected Britain’s decision to go.

“Brexit, should it happen, is not the end of something but the beginning of our future relationship,” she said. “I want this relationship, as it has been in the past, to be a good relationship.”