OUTRAGE AS THE EU THREATENS ‘HEFTY BILL’ FOR BREXIT
CHIEF Eurocrat Jean-Claude Juncker was branded a “bully” last night after calling for Britain to be hit with a “hefty” bill for leaving the EU.
In a provocative speech in Brussels, the European Commission President insisted the UK could not expect a “cut-price or zero-cost” Brexit.
EU sources suggested a divorce settlement set to cost British taxpayers up to £51billion was being prepared with payments spread over four years after the country quits the bloc.
MPs and MEPs were enraged by the cash demand from the top Brussels bureaucrat last night.
Tory backbencher Nigel Evans said: “Mr Juncker has shown himself to be an aloof and arrogant bully.
“If we are going to start talking about the settlement, then what about the buildings we have contributed towards over the last 43 years? The bill for those will run into billions and we should get our share back.”
And in a swipe at Mr Juncker’s famed love of fine wine, Mr Evans added: “As far as the divorce settlement is concerned, perhaps we should send him a case of champagne.”
Ukip’s EU exit spokesman, Gerard Batten MEP, said: “If Mr Juncker wants to play this game, we should respond tit-for-tat and send him a massive bill for the lost fishing rights over the last 43 years, the extra costs of the Common Agricultural Policy and for the cost of lost jobs and prosperity as a result of Brussels regulations on business.”
In a speech to the Belgian parliament yesterday, the Commission president said: “Our British friends need to know – and they know it already – that it will not be cut-price or zero-cost.
“The British will have to respect the commitments which they played a part in agreeing.”
Officials say the bill is to cover the UK’s share of projects and programmes which it signed up to as a member of the 28-nation bloc as well as outstanding pension costs for EU officials.
A figure of 60 billion euros (£51billion) was reportedly discussed at a recent meeting of senior Eurocrats.
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, was said to have discussed spreading the payment from 2019 to 2023 to soften the blow resulting from the lost UK annual membership fee.
Downing Street officials snubbed Mr Juncker’s demand last night.
A spokesman said: “We go into these negotiations in a mature and open way and in a spirit of goodwill to get a deal that works not just in our best interests but also for the other member states because it’s in our interests that they thrive and prosper alongside us.”