EU’S TANTRUM OVER BREXIT DIVORCE BILL
Brussels orders Britain to ‘get serious’ and pay up ... but it’s accused of trying to hold us to ransom
THE EU’s chief Brexit negotiator was accused of trying to hold Britain to ransom over the socalled ‘divorce bill’ last night as talks threatened to descend into acrimony.
At a meeting in Brussels, Michel Barnier lashed out at Brexit Secretary David Davis for refusing to say how much Britain was willing to pay towards the EU’s demand for about £74billion.
In the most hostile confrontation of Brexit talks so far, Mr Barnier tried to scold Mr Davis, telling him: ‘We must start negotiating seriously.’
He warned there would be no trade deal unless Britain coughed up, despite German business leaders calling for an early agreement.
Last night a British source hit back, dismissing the remarks as ‘inconsistent, ill- judged, ill- considered and unhelpful for the next round of negotiations’. And MPs accused Mr Barnier of making ‘outrageous’ demands without any legal justification.
As the week of talks kicked off yesterday, each side blamed the other for stalling progress. Mr Barnier had demanded Mr Davis arrived ready to set out what the UK would pay.
But the Brexit Secretary ruled out making any such commitment until the EU gave the legal basis for its claim.
Mr Barnier denounced the UK for refusing to provide a document revealing what it believed it owes.
He said: ‘To be honest I’m concerned that time passes quickly. We need UK papers that are clear in order to have constructive negotiations, and the sooner we remove the ambiguity, the sooner we will be in a position to discuss the future relationship and a transitional period.’
The ex-French minister said the 27 countries remaining in the EU were clear that talks had to move forward over the bill and the rights of Europeans in the UK before trade discussions could begin.
He said: ‘The EU27 and the European Parliament stand united – they we will not accept that separation issues are not addressed properly.’
But Mr Davis responded by urging his counterpart to show ‘flexibility and imagination’, and told him twice that the UK wanted to move forward with ‘all the issues’ and not just the money.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘What Mr Barnier means by “negotiating seriously” is giving in to their outrageous demands. He is trying to hold us to ransom. It’s a desperate throw of the dice as he knows that legally we do not owe them anything at all. Anything we pay is a goodwill gesture that must be linked to what sort of trade deal we get. That is the truth he cannot escape from.’
British officials believe Brussels will be forced into a climbdown as EU leaders face a backlash from European businesses if they stall trade talks.
In the first sign of a revolt, German business leaders yesterday issued a plea to the EU to begin work on a trade agreement.
The influential Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) warned it was important for businesses on both sides of the Channel for them to start looking at the future arrangements.
Mr Barnier had stoked tensions by claiming in a French newspaper that Brexit would have ‘practical consequences’ on UK security.
‘Giving in to their outrageous demands’
‘Desperate throw of the dice’
As the talks continue in Brussels, Theresa May will this evening fly to Japan for a three- day trip expected to include a meeting with Emperor Akihito and prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Yesterday, Japan’s deputy cabinet secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura warned the country’s businesses wanted reassurances as they felt a ‘sense of crisis’ over Brexit, and officials played down the chances of starting talks on a trade deal.
‘We need to make use of Prime Minister May’s visit for conveying Japan’s stance to various levels in Britain and EU,’ he said.
The UK is the second most important destination for Japanese investment after the US.
Last night Downing Street said Japanese firms had ‘continued to show confidence in the UK’ with, for instance, Nissan building its new Qashqai in Sunderland.
ROUND three of the Brexit talks, and still the chief Brussels negotiator shows no sign of allowing discussions on the vital matter of our future trading relationship even to begin.
Indeed, yesterday he appeared more obstructive than ever – emboldened, perhaps, by Labour’s weekend betrayal of its core voters, when the party swung round to oppose Brexit in all but name.
Stooping to a new low, Michel Barnier even suggested that without EU cooperation over security, Britain will be more vulnerable to terrorism (though he hastily contradicted himself by adding: ‘The safety of our fellow citizens is not being marketed.’)
Has he forgotten the UK is one of the EU’s two strongest military powers, with its leading intelligence agencies, MI5 and GCHQ? If anyone should worry about a breakdown in cooperation after Brexit, it’s the remaining 27.
Meanwhile, why should we lose sleep over his warning that Brussels will withdraw funding from our defence research? As the club’s second-largest net contributor, it’s our money he’s talking about – and it will be ours to spend as we like after Brexit.
Worst of all, Mr Barnier persists in refusing to discuss trade before progress is made on the ‘key separation issues’ of rights for expats, the Irish border and the EU’s inflated divorce bill.
Yet our negotiators have put forward eminently reasonable proposals on the first two of these side issues. As for cash, it’s up to him to say how much he thinks we owe and why (though this must surely depend on the nature of any trade deal).
It’s clearly preposterous to ask us to make an offer before we know what we’ll get in return. Indeed, it looks like a deliberate attempt to sabotage the talks in the hope of delaying Brexit indefinitely.
Meanwhile, in the real world the clamour grows for the negotiations to cut to the chase, with firms throughout Europe joining British and German business groups in demanding trade talks begin.
This paper has news for Mr Barnier. With or without a deal, Brexit will happen on March 31, 2019. For the sake of all 510million EU citizens, on both sides of the Channel, he must stop playing games – and address the issue that matters.