4 December 2020

Future Relationship: Little time left for a deal

With less than 1 month to go until the end of the transition period, the time for playing games is over. Employers from the Tech & Industry sector call on all parties involved to break the current impasse, avoid a no-deal exit, and ensure this industrial sector has the necessary time to adapt.

Ceemet members, representing the companies which make up Europe’s Tech & Industry sector, are calling for all sides to find a solution which is in the best interests of our industries on both sides of the Channel.

With only 27 days to go until the transition period ends, the sense of urgency among the business community is palpable.

Not only is the time to agree on a deal running out, also time is running short for parliaments that have to ratify such a deal and for industries that will have to adapt, literally, overnight to new rules without time to prepare.

“There is too much at stake to continue this game of chicken.
It’s time for everyone to act responsibly and to make sure that come next year, there still is a thriving industry.”

says Oliver Zander Ceemet’s Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Political responsibility to get a deal

Manufacturers are experiencing the biggest industrial crisis in living memory, with lockdowns both national and regional, and schemes such as temporary short-time work which are often inadequate to deal with the symmetric shock to the industrial base we represent.

This last opportunity must be grasped by both sides. The crucial days in these negotiations are upon us, now is the time for a meaningful deal that preserves the complex and delicate relationships developed between manufacturers in the EU, their non-EU trading partners which are part of a Customs Union, and the UK.

Therefore Ceemet repeats its call to:

  1. Ensure that we avoid the disaster of an exit without a deal
  2. Work to ensure that we achieve the best deal possible avoiding tariffs, simplifying rules of origin and minimising red tape and bureaucracy at the border