Risk of no-deal Brexit still exists, EU’s negotiator Barnier says

The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday that the risk of Britain’s chaotic departure from the bloc without a divorce agreement still existed.

Barnier spoke as Britain was headed for a December 12 national election that PM Boris Johnson hopes will unlock the Brexit stalemate after the parliament refused to swiftly ratify his divorce deal with the EU, Reuters reports.

“The risk of Brexit happening without a ratified deal still exists,” Barnier said in Brussels. “We still need to prepare.” He said a no-deal split could happen at the end of January, if the British parliament failed to ratify Johnson’s deal and London did not get another delay on the divorce.

It could also happen at the end of the status-quo transition period envisaged after Brexit until the end of 2020, Barnier said, if no new trade deal is agreed between the two sides by then and no extra time is given to achieve that.