(Bloomberg) -- European Union member states will maintain their common front if U.K. lawmakers reject a divorce plan carved out by EU and British negotiators, setting their country on course for a disorderly exit, according to a party ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Gunther Krichbaum, a Christian Democratic Union lawmaker who is chairman of the European affairs committee in Germany's lower house, said a response to a no-deal Brexit would have to be borne by the 27 remaining member states as a whole.
“This is something Europe has to confront,” Krichbaum said in an interview at a CDU event in the southern German city of Boeblingen late Tuesday. “We never let ourselves be divided. That was sometimes the attempt by the U.K., to pull away some member states, but we didn't go along with that.”
Kirchbaum didn't make a prediction about next month's vote in the U.K. parliament but said the EU will have to come up with an emergency plan in case Prime Minister Theresa May is defeated.
“A hard Brexit would be a catastrophe, especially for the U.K., but above all for regular people,” Krichbaum said. “We have to avoid the catastrophic effects for the people.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Boeblingen, Germany at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka
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