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Angela Merkel will this week stage her most significant intervention in the Brexit process in more than two years, as the European Union moves to shield itself from the fallout of political chaos in Britain.

The German chancellor is to hold talks with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in Dublin on Thursday and demand a plan to protect Ireland’s border should the U.K. crash out of the bloc without a deal, which could come as soon as April 12. The EU now sees this as a serious possibility and is focusing almost all of its work on how to contain the consequences, EU officials said.

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Merkel’s intervention comes as relations between the U.K. and EU hit an all-time low after Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated in Parliament at the third attempt on Friday. EU officials say they can do no more to help the British government. The bloc has given the U.K. about another week to notify of the way forward, as it prepares an all-important summit in Brussels on April 10.