Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis:

There will, of course, be a negative economic impact. We conducted some assessments immediately after the referendum in the UK. I cannot say with a large degree of certainty, because we still do not know the future relationship model of Brexit. The economic model will depend directly on this but it is very clear that if we are untangling decades of economic and financial sector integration it will have a disruptive effect. We will need to address this disruption. First we need to define our future relationship to see how disruptive it is going to be. We already know that some of the political choices the UK has made on Brexit will mean leaving the EU Single Market, and potentially the customs union. All of these decisions are adding to the negative economic impact. The European Commission is also preparing for different scenarios, including the so-called "cliff edge" scenario. We need to be ready for that although it is certainly not something we would aim for. While we aim to reach agreement and to minimise this disruption, we also need to be realistic about it.