A Midlands – North West MEP has said that while every effort will continue to be made in the next 30 days to avoid a no-deal Brexit; it is the responsibility of the UK government to avoid such an eventuality.
Fine Gael MEP and first vice-president of the European Parliament, Mairead McGuinness, has said that threats to our primary producers are “rightly causing fear among our farmers and we will need to ensure that strong EU solidarity supports farmers through any potential crisis”.
Speaking at the European selection convention for the Midlands North-West constituency in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, this evening (Friday, February 22) she said: “A crisis in the Irish beef sector is a crisis for the EU beef sector and will demand an EU response, as well as an Irish response.”
McGuinness warned that no one and no sector is immune to the impact of a crash out Brexit.
If that were to happen it would also represent a failure of politics and a complete failure of our once partners at the EU table to reach an agreed settlement.
“If the UK crashes out of the EU at 11:00pm on March 29, it will also be a disaster for the UK and reflect the inability of UK politicians to do the right thing.
“It would also point to a global trend of fragmentation of politics and it does not auger well for the future,” she warned.
“Solidarity around Brexit shows a united EU, yet on some issues there is little common ground,” she explained.
Challenges including migration, security, climate change, completing the banking union and even agreeing an EU budget post 2020 have all to be faced up to.
“At a time when global institutions are under threat and some member states stress the nation first ahead of the EU, charting a coherent way forward will be difficult but absolutely essential to achieve,” she said.
Concluding, McGuinness said: “We need to build a strong EU fit for the future, that meets the concerns of citizens and is accessible, transparent and open.”