EU faces growing risk of no-deal Brexit: Commissioner

ANKARA

The EU Commission faces growing risk of Britain’s exit from the bloc without agreement on April 12, an EU commissioner said Wednesday.

Underlining that Brussels did not want a "no-deal Brexit", Economic and Financial Affairs commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Twitter that the EU faced growing risk of such an eventuality.

Moscovici said Brexit would make the U.K. a "third country" in terms of its legal and commercial relationship, and that countries that had been trading with the U.K. without barriers in the internal market should "complete customs formalities in the event of a no-deal."

Moscovici said, in the case of a no-deal Brexit, importers would have to pay various duties and taxes on all goods imported from the U.K.

He added that baggage and goods would be subject to customs controls, and that travelers from the U.K. would not be able to carry certain goods into the EU or in only limited quantities.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that London needed an additional short extension from the EU from the current exit date of April 12.

The EU is slated to hold an emergency Brexit summit two days before on April 10.

The British parliament has repeatedly failed to settle on any plan for Brexit.

In a 2016 referendum, U.K. voters decided to leave the bloc after a more than 40-year-long membership.