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DEAG hoping for “reasonable solution” to post-Brexit touring

Berlin-based promoter Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) is among the German businesses bracing for a ‘hard’ Brexit next March, with executive board member Detlef Kornett warning of knock-on effects on European touring if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

IQ revealed in May that many concert tours would grind to a halt should the UK and European union fail to reach an agreement on trucking, with Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, warning there would be “17-mile tailbacks” at Calais “within 24 hours” of Britain crashing out of the trade bloc.

Speaking to the Berliner Morgenpost, Kornett says the concert giant – who does around half its business in Britain, through subsidiaries Kilimanjaro Live and Flying Music Group – is optimistic there’ll be still be strong demand for live entertainment in the event of a post-Brexit recession.

“In times of crisis people may forego a new washing machine, [for example], but there is usually still money for the small things that make you happy,” Kornett comments.

“Brexit without a concrete result from the negotiations would be bad”

However, he cautions that, with just over seven months to go until Brexit Day on 29 March 2019, the industry is still in the dark about how easy it will be for tours to travel from Britain to mainland Europe and vice versa.

“A Brexit without a concrete result from negotiations [between the UK and EU] would be bad,” he says, echoing Burnett. “But I hope that there will be a reasonable solution to the major issues.”

Other German business leaders have urged both parties to find a solution, with Christian Amsinck of the Business Associations of Berlin and Brandenburg (UVB) warning the “clock is ticking”.

Jan Eder, director of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK), tells the paper it is “highly regrettable” that little progress in being made in Brexit negotiations are stalling. “There are fewer than 250 days left to the end of March 2019 and we are still facing a completely open negotiation result. That leaves many questions for [German] companies that are economically linked to the UK.”

 


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