Interesting read from an EU perspective in a Guardian piece by Jens Geier, a German MEP. The bolds are mine.

A British departure without an agreement would certainly be painful for the rest of the bloc. But it wouldn't be fatal. A single market containing 27 member states and with trade agreements around the world can handle the departure of one large country. Prosecco and BMWs are, after all, big sellers worldwide. But with neither a withdrawal agreement nor a transitional period, there would not be so much as a feather to soften the British economy's hard landing. Brexit can't change the simple fact that a bloc of 450 million citizens is greater than one of 65 million. And with less than 18 months left, the UK is nowhere near prepared for a doomsday scenario, given the thousands of extra customs officials, regulators and additional systems that will be needed in the event of no deal.

If there is any truth in May's mantra, then it is the other way around: the EU's interests may be better served by a no-deal divorce than by an agreement that puts its foundations at risk if Britain gets an a la carte Brexit. And that's not a bluff. In the European parliament we have made clear that we won't approve any advance in the negotiations towards a future EU-UK relationship until the foundations for this bridge are laid: solutions over citizens' rights and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the settlement of the UK's financial obligations. Without an agreement, a transitional period will not be granted. This is not meant as punishment for a departing country. It is about settling the accounts. It's the interests of EU citizens and the preservation and prosperity of the union that determine our approach to the negotiations...

...May and her cabinet must finally put the national interest ahead of managing the Conservative party's internal conflict, and agree where they are heading. The European commission is your negotiating counterpart, not a counsellor to listen to you wrestle with doubts and divisions. How can we make sustainable progress when nobody knows if the prime minister is able to deliver, or whether her statements will be undermined by members of her cabinet? The British leadership is lacking in credibility.