UK prepared to pay 40bn euro Brexit bill: report

Britain is prepared to pay up to 40 billion euros ($ 47 billion) to the EU to settle its accounts when it leaves the bloc, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

It is the fi rst time the British side has put a fi gure even unoffi cially on the so- called divorce bill, one of the biggest sticking points in the Brexit negotiations. However, it falls well short of the 100 billion euro sum discussed in Brussels.

The newspaper report, based on unnamed government sources, said Britain would pay this only if the EU agrees to negotiate the fi nancial settlement as part of a future trade deal.

Brussels has said progress must be made on the divorce bill, as well as the rights of European citizens living in Britain and the Irish border issue, before any talks can start on a free trade agreement.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has warned that the trade negotiations, which Britain hopes will start in October, may be pushed back to December because Britain is stalling on the bill, diplomats said last month.

British offi cials are looking at proposing a transition deal where Britain would continue to make net payments to the EU of 10 billion euros a year for up to three years after it leaves in March 2019, the Telegraph said.

This money, paid in return for continued access to Europe’s single market, would be a “partial downpayment” on the fi nal bill.

Prime Minister Theresa May’s government refused to comment Sunday on “speculation,” although a source told AFP that Britain “will meet our international obligations, but not pay more than we need to.”

Barnier has declined to publicly name a fi gure for Britain’s divorce bill, which includes its share of EU spending projects already agreed, as well as pension contributions of staff , among other expenses.

But he said the “methodology” for determining how much Britain must pay should be worked out during the fi rst phase of the Brexit negotiations – which is due to end in October, before trade talks begin.