So companies that employ just under 1,500 people and export at least 20% to the UK don't matter and it won't make much difference. But for the UK it would be massive?
Mr Juncker is from Luxembourg, which is a country that does not have a large automotive industry,’ he says carefully. ‘In the automotive industry, we are not in the business of teaching other countries a lesson. We are in the business of making cars.’
I get the same no-nonsense message from business all over Europe. Take Claudio Calabresi, who runs his family textile business near Florence, making clothes for M&S, Ted Baker and others. Up to 40 per cent of his £25 million turnover goes to Britain. A bad Brexit would be very grim indeed.
As in Germany, he wishes Brexit wasn’t happening. But he is practical, too. He places the blame for the current situation equally on the British and EU politicians and wants calm.
‘It is a very confusing situation. From my point of view, the people shouldn’t be punished,’ he says. ‘We must respect the decision — it has come from the people, not the politicians. In fact, there is a feeling in Italy that if we could take a similar decision, many might go the same way.’
In Normandy, meanwhile, political and business leaders have warned President Macron that a no-deal Brexit would threaten the region’s economy.
