Geert Bourgeois: “EU must protect jobs and prosperity against no-deal Brexit”

10 June 2019
Brexit

“It is the duty of the European Union to protect the jobs and the prosperity of its citizens.” Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois finds it unacceptable that the European Commission is to take no extra measures for its companies in the event of a hard Brexit. “Extra time will not bring any relief to the Flemish SMEs affected by high import taxes and cumbersome administrative burdens, customs and phytosanitary checks and possibly also different product standards. You can’t just replace your fourth biggest export market, good for almost 28 billion euros, even if there is a little extra time,” Geert Bourgeois says.

Disastrous for Flanders

From day one, it immediately became clear that Brexit in any form is disastrous for our Flemish economy. From an impact study that the Minister-President commissioned and from a study by the KU Leuven, it appears that a hard Brexit would cost 28,000 jobs and that the Flemish gross domestic product would drop by 2.6%. That is not something that Flanders can absorb on its own.

Urgent call for measures

The Minister-President finds it the task of the EU to protect its companies against the severe consequences of external causes such as a no-deal Brexit and repeats his urgent call for suitable measures from the EU such as:

  • a Brexit adaptation fund to support the economies most badly hit.
  • an expansion of the field of application of the European globalisation fund. At the moment, only large companies with over 500 employees can make use of it when they suffer large losses due to external factors, but smaller companies must be able to benefit from it too.
  • a strengthening of the European programme for SMEs (COSME).
  • a targeted relaxation of the European state support rules if necessary.

Finally, Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois is also calling on Prime Minister Charles Michel to provide his strongest possible support by advocating for these measures as a priority at European level.

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