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The only nations that win out from the U.K.’s anticipated departure from the European Union are the region’s largest adversaries, according to Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra.
“The only countries that benefit are Russia and China and for us it’s truly tragic that the largest military power is leaving the EU,” Hoekstra said in an interview in Bucharest on Friday. “But it truly is a tragedy and is bad news for everyone involved.”
The U.K. is struggling to come up with a path to leave the EU, with Prime Minister Theresa May earlier on Friday asking for another delay until June 30. May entered into talks with opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn in an attempt to break the impasse after her Withdrawal Agreement was rejected three times by the House of Commons.
Euro-area finance ministers meeting in the Romanian capital said the EU is prepared for the U.K.’s eventual exit and are ready to reestablish checks on the border in the event an accord isn’t reached.
“We are prepared also for a no-deal in the field of customs,” the EU’s Commissioner for Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici told reporters after the finance ministers’ meeting. “We are ready to re-establish, if needed, controls.’’
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