EU bills will go on after Brexit, warns Germany
GERMANY has warned Britain that it may have to continue to pay EU contributions for a decade after Brexit as Theresa May prepares to meet Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, said Britain’s financial commitments would “last beyond the exit” and that it would not benefit from any rebates.
Britain is hoping Germany will help to temper demands from France that it must “pay a price” for its decision to leave the EU.
Mr Schäuble also warned in an interview with the Financial Times that Britain should be prepared for financial services to abandon the UK and move to Frankfurt. He suggested that Britain would have to pay an exit bill on leaving the EU and said that the UK would be unable to curb migration if it wanted to remain in the Single Market.
He said: “Possibly there will be some commitments that last beyond the exit … even, in part, to 2030 … Also we cannot grant any generous rebates.”
Mrs May will today hold talks with Barack Obama, the US president, along with the leaders of France, Germany and Spain in Berlin. She will also hold a one-to-one meeting with Mrs Merkel.
Mr Obama yesterday called for Brexit negotiations to be conducted “in a smooth and orderly fashion”.
BRITAIN could cut the amount of foreign aid that it hands to the European Union under plans to “take back control” after Brexit.
Official figures yesterday showed that Britain’s foreign aid contributions to the European Commission, which it then spends in developing nations, have risen by more than a fifth to £1.3 billion.
Priti Patel, the International Development Secretary, said during a recent trip to Kenya that “politicians accountable to the UK should decide on how budgets are spent”.
The Daily Telegraph understands that ministers are examining plans to reduce the amount given to the EU and spend the money directly instead.
The figures indicated that Britain has met the United Nations target of spending 0.7 per cent of its national income on aid for the third year in succession.
Statistics released by the Department for International Development (Dfid) showed that the level of overseas development aid has risen by £437 million to £12.1 billion.
Leading recipients of UK bilateral aid in 2015 were Pakistan, which received £374million, Ethiopia which received £339 million and Afghanistan which received £300million. The top 20 recipients were all in Africa – which took almost £2.8 billion of the total – or Asia which received about £2.1 billion.
Dfid sources refused to be drawn on what would happen to EU funding after Brexit, but said that the UK would spend aid “in a manner that most effectively combated poverty, provided value for money and was in line with British interests”.
A Dfid spokesman said: “Our development budget is an important part of securing Britain’s place in the world, alongside our world-class diplomatic service, 2 per cent commitment on defence spending and permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
“UK aid has a life-changing impact and we are leading the way in combating poverty, preventing the spread of disease and reducing the pressures of mass migration, all of which are in Britain’s national interest.”