The European economy is recovering much better than many had feared at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Saturday, adding that governments should nonetheless continue to support companies and consumers.
“The pandemic is not over, but the indicators … show that the economy is recovering much better than we feared some time ago, and that is something that applies to the European Union as a whole but also to the individual member states,” Scholz told reporters at the end of an informal meeting of the 27 EU finance ministers in Berlin.
He added that a “no-deal” Brexit would hurt the British economy a lot more than the European Union.
“My assessment is that an unregulated situation would have very significant consequences for the British economy,” Scholz told a news conference after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Berlin.
“Europe would be able to deal with it and there would be no particularly serious consequences after the preparations we have already made,” he added.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday that a planned bill, which would breach a divorce treaty with the bloc, was needed to protect Britain’s integrity.
