EU PUTS $ 83B PRICE ON BREXIT

EU

Britain will have to pay a bill of about 50 billion pounds ($83 billion) when it leaves the European Union, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned as Britain prepares to trigger the start of Brexit negotiations.

While there is no desire to punish Britain for leaving the bloc, the EU must deter other countries from following, the head of the EU’s executive arm told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government knows they’ll have to pay what they owe, he said.

“We have to calculate scientifically what the British commitments were and then the bill has to be paid,” he said. Asked if the bill will be 50 billion pounds, which is about 58 billion euros, Juncker replied: “It’s around that.”

May plans to launch Britain on a two-year process of negotiations to quit the EU on Wednesday by triggering Article 50 of the bloc’s Lisbon Treaty. The size of Britain’s exit bill will be among the first — and most contentious — topics for discussion.