EU leader vows &50bn revenge
Divorce bill to punish Britain for Thatcher’s 1984 rebate victory Luxembourg PM tells Theresa May: ‘We want our money back!’
A KEY EU leader has vowed to use Britain’s Brexit divorce bill to avenge Margaret Thatcher’s historic victory in her budget war with Brussels.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It is now time for the European Union to make an analogy with the famous quote of Mrs Thatcher, “We want our money back”.’
Mrs Thatcher won a £4 billion yearly rebate in 1984 after a bruising four-year campaign to reduce the annual amount Britain paid into Brussels coffers.
But Mr Bettel, who succeeded European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as Luxembourg PM in 2013, made it clear the boot is now on the other foot.
He criticised Boris Johnson’s dismissive comment that the EU could ‘go whistle’ in response to reports that Britain faced a massive divorce bill. He also accused the Foreign Secretary of ‘bragging’ by claiming Britain ‘can have its cake and eat it’ by leaving the European Union.
Mr Bettel said: ‘It is not possible to have your cake and eat it, too – Boris Johnson knows that.’
He denied the EU was being vindictive and said Theresa May’s Government must face up to the fact that it could be forced to pay more than £50billion to leave.
He said: ‘Concerning the exit bill, it is important to underline that the British Government took this commitment in the past and needs to honour it.
‘It is not a penalty. The sum ranges between £36billion and £54billion.’
Britain ‘might only begin to discover’ the harsh reality of life outside the EU after it had left, he warned. There was evidence some voters ‘regretted the result of the referendum’ and that a second vote could produce a different result.
He added that Mrs May’s decision to call a snap election, only to see her majority cut, had made her attempt to get a good Brexit deal harder. He said: ‘I cannot talk for my European colleagues but all of us know that Mrs May is in a difficult position since the elections.’
British claims for a ‘special and deep’ relationship with the EU even though it was quitting were ‘confusing’, said Mr Bettel.
He endorsed EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s demand for Britain to spell out its Brexit terms.
‘Everybody is aware how serious this is. We need clarity and a detailed blueprint of the UK’s position,’ he said.
Despite its tiny size, Luxembourg wields considerable influence in the EU as one of its six founding members.
Mr Bettel has taken a tough stance on Brexit since Britain voted to leave the EU last year.
But in March, the Luxembourg PM insisted Article 50 can be reversed if UK voters decide they ‘love the EU too much to leave’.
Mrs Thatcher’s negotiation of the UK’s rebate at Fontainebleau, outside Paris, in the summer of 1984 is regarded by her admirers as one of her finest hours.
While other member states had been granted temporary reductions in the amount they contributed to EU budgets, she won a permanent concession.
Meanwhile, the Brexit row took a new turn last night as TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady threw her weight behind a growing band of Labour figures who say the UK must not leave the single market.
Writing on the opposite page, she says: ‘Nobody has told us what the impact of crashing out of the single market would be or come up with a convincing alternative.’
‘Boris, Britain can’t have its cake and eat it, too’