At the start of the year, the news was relatively light in Brexit terms - but in these crucial next few weeks, it will dominate in the media and in business discussions.

In the last few weeks alone, the Prime Minister and four senior Cabinet ministers have delivered speeches aimed at outlining the road to Brexit. The Prime Minister has expressed a desire for a fast-tracked future UK-EU security deal and the Foreign Secretary made the case for divergence from EU regulations, 'to take advantage of the economic freedoms' that come with Brexit. Last week, David Davis called for mutual recognition between the two regulatory regimes and this Friday the Prime Minister is set to provide more detail on the government's position.

The hope from business is that all of this will culminate in clarity on the transition period by the time the European Council takes place on 22nd-23rd March. If discussions relating to the transition go beyond this point, a number of organisations will need to activate contingency plans.

But whilst here in the UK it is hard to escape the 'B' word – what do our continental counterparts think? Given that Brexit is a two-sided negotiation, it is important that we understand the EU viewpoint.

I think it is fair to say that for most other countries within Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Brexit is not an all-consuming priority. Chief negotiator Michel Barnier has a clear mandate and efforts have been made to ring-fence the Brexit negotiations to ensure they do not permeate the domestic politics of individual countries who face their own political events challenges. Italy goes to the polls in early March and last week Germany's Social Democratic Party launched a vote on the formation of the coalition with Chancellor Merkel's DCU.

There are also a number of other significant Europe-wide issues to contend with - such as security, the Eurozone and migration, and Brexit is certainly not the dominant topic amongst these.

During phase one of the negotiations, the EU 27 seemed broadly unified on the key Brexit issues - but will such unity continue into phase two?

There is a perception that differences may start to emerge as discussion turns to the future UK-EU relationship and the individual priorities of member states are brought to the fore. Much has been written about the potential impact of a 'hard Brexit' on Germany's automotive sector – a recent report by Deloitte in Germany estimated that this could result in 20% fall in sales. For France, fishing rights will be of particular concern and for Spain, tourism and agriculture are areas of focus.

But all of these are economic priorities and what is clear through all of my discussions with policymakers and business leaders on the continent is that politics always comes before economics, and the preservation of the Union is of greatest importance. To that end, EU businesses are likely to accept some degree of upheaval as the UK extricates itself, and therefore a UK negotiating position based on economics is unlikely to resonate.

However, this acceptance of economic 'pain' is not about penalising the UK - something that I do not think any of our continental counterparts wish to do. During a speech in January, Michel Barnier expressed the desire for a continued close relationship with the UK post Brexit and that a bespoke free trade agreement, 'tailored to the specificities of the United Kingdom' would be possible. But the UK will not be able to receive all the benefits of the Customs Union and single market outside of the bloc.

So, what does this mean for businesses, big and small, who are urgently seeking greater certainty as to how this is going play out? I would expect that the politics will rumble on for many months to come and as is often the case in negotiations, it could go down to the wire. Given the scale of the task at hand, and with the 'exit deal' required to go through both the UK parliament and parliaments across the 27 member states, uncertainty is likely to continue.

As many businesses now enter the financial year in which Brexit will impact, my advice is that they fully prepare for the situation of most change. But as well as mitigating the risks, Brexit also provides an impetus for organisations to rethink business models and explore new opportunities that may arise. UK business has shown great resilience and agility in responding to the referendum result and shouldn't forget to take a look beyond Brexit.

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