EU negotiator sends terse reply on Brexit bill whistling back to Boris
Europe’s demands are not extortionate, insists Barnier, as tensions smoulder ahead of first full round of talks
EUROPE is not demanding a “ransom” from Britain for leaving the EU, the bloc’s lead Brexit negotiator said yesterday, as he hit back at Boris Johnson’s claim that the EU’S “Brexit bill” was extortionate.
Michel Barnier bristled at the Foreign Secretary’s suggestion that Europe could “go whistle” for a gross financial settlement of up to €100billion, retorting it was not a ransom demand, but “simply settling accounts”.
Asked directly about Mr Johnson’s remark, Mr Barnier paused theatrically before replying: “I am not hearing any whistling, just the clock ticking” – a reference to the fixed two-year window for negotiating Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
“People have used words like ransom,” added Mr Barnier at a highly charged press conference ahead of the first full round of negotiations, which start in Brussels next week. “It’s not an exit bill. It is not a punishment. It is not a revenge. At no time has it been those things,” he said.
In a sign of potentially stormy talks to come, he then accused Britain of failing to build sufficient trust for a good deal by dragging its feet over the financial settlement. “How do you build a relationship based on security, trade, defence and other subjects, how do you build a relationship that is going to last with a country where you don’t have trust?” he asked.
British negotiators dispute Europe’s calculations, which have ballooned to €100billion as the bloc lumped in annual farm subsidies, up-front loan guarantees and then refused to offset the UK’S share of the EU’S multi-billion-euro asset portfolio.
In early talks, The Daily Telegraph understands British negotiators have asked the EU to provide the legal basis for its calculations, which far exceed British estimates. “We honestly have no idea how they arrive at these numbers,” said one senior Whitehall source.
The British stance has deepened frustration in Mr Barnier’s team and EU capitals that fear that the UK – which will leave a €10billion-a-year shortfall for the EU after Brexit – will not pay sufficient sums to avoid a budget fight between the remaining 27 member states.
“It is essential that the UK recognises the existence of financial obligations, which are simply the result of the period during which they were members of the EU,” protested Mr Barnier.
The former French minister and EU Commissioner said that assurances from David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, that the UK would meet its obligations was the “least one would expect”, before demanding that the UK continue to fund its pre-brexit pledges for EU projects. “I can’t imagine that that very great country will not also be a responsible country and respect its commitments,” he added.
Senior British sources are certain that the country will come to a financial settlement with the EU, but not until Europe proves its demands have a sound legal basis and gives the UK adequate incentives to sign off on payments that could stretch until 2023.
Mr Barnier’s performance hints at a tough round of talks next week, when negotiators will discuss not only money, but also the rights of EU and UK expats on both sides of the Channel, the Northern Ireland border as well as a host of knotty legal issues thrown up by Brexit.
The EU has said that “sufficient progress” must be made on all these areas – hopefully by October – before it will start discussions on trade and the outlines of the future EU-UK relationship.
On the question of expat rights, Mr Barnier said there remained substantial “differences” between the two sides, particularly over family rights, as well as which court should enforce any deal.
Mr Barnier repeated Europe’s demand that the European Court of Justice provide the “ultimate guarantee” of citizens’ rights – a position that is clearly unacceptable to the UK.
Despite Mr Barnier’s hard line, a compromise is expected – and was hinted at by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week in a speech in Munich acknowledging the differences and the need for some form of joint dispute resolution mechanism.
“Britain doesn’t want the European Court of Justice,” she acknowledged, “but we say it can’t be just British courts”.