Dexit would be an economic disaster for Germany. They calculated what the cost of leaving the EU would be

The head of the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, called Britain’s exit from the European Union “a model for Germany” at the beginning of the year. Scientists from the German Institute of Economics (IW) in Cologne have now calculated how much dexit would actually cost.

These would be the costs of dexit for Germany

According to the results, Germany leaving the EU would cost millions of jobs and significantly reduce prosperity. In the analysis, the authors of the study showed that dexit would lead to a 5.6% decline in real gross domestic product after just five years. This would mean that Germany would lose EUR 690 billion in added value during this time.

Experts warn that Germany – as an export country – is dependent on trade with other countries, especially in the EU. As a result, companies and consumers in Germany “would clearly feel the consequences” and around 2.5 million jobs would be lost. The study is based on the consequences of the UK leaving the EU, such as the loss of trade deals and the European workforce.

“It’s not worth imitating the British”

According to IW, the loss of economic output in Germany in the event of dexit would be similar to what occurred during the coronavirus crisis and energy costs throughout the period from 2020 to 2023. In their opinion, Brexit “is therefore not an undertaking worth imitating,” warned IW managing director Hubertus Bardt. Rather, Brexit is “a warning to other member states against recklessly abandoning economic integration.”

At the beginning of the year, AfD leader Alice Weidel said in an interview for the Financial Times that her party, if it came to power, would first try to reform the EU to solve the problem of the “democratic deficit.” If this failed, the party would hold a referendum on whether Germany should remain in the EU. AfD politicians from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern also recently talked about dexit.