The U.K.’s bill for leaving the European Union “is not a punishment”, the EU’s chief negotiator told reporters on Wednesday after the Financial Times said the European Union was preparing to demand 100 billion euros ($109.12 billion).
Michel Barnier, the EU’s Brexit negotiator, said the EU is asking Britain to settle its accounts.
“I cannot accept that term: blank cheque. There was never any question of asking the UK to give us a blank cheque. That would not be serious. All we’re asking for is that the accounts to be cleared for the honoring commitments the U.K. has entered,” Barnier said.
“Leaving the union doesn’t have a price, which has to be paid,” he added.
The FT reported earlier that the EU had revised its calculations for the so-called exit bill to 100 billion euros. The number floated in the press had until now been about 60 billion euros. According to the paper, the increase was due to the direct requests from countries such as France and Germany to cover post-Brexit farm payments and EU administration fees.
Barnier dismissed any figures while reiterating that the EU will use a “very precise methodology”. “I don’t wish to give any figures today. I can’t because I don’t know what the figures are,” he said.
The methodology for the exit bill will be agreed with the U.K. during the upcoming negotiations, Barnier explained.
In London, the U.K.’s negotiator David Davies said Wednesday morning that his country would not pay a 100 billion euro bill. The government will pay what is legally due but “not just what the EU wants.”
Barnier also vowed that it is the EU’s main priority to ensure that European citizens living in the U.K. will be able to keep their current rights for their lifetimes.
Tension rises in UK-EU relations
The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that the EU’s Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker left London “10 times more skeptical” than he was before after a dinner with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May last week.
Barnier did not want to comment on such reports, saying he is the EU’s negotiator.
“Some have created the illusion that Brexit will have no material impact on our lives or that negotiations can be concluded quickly and painlessly. This is not the case. We need sound solutions, legal precision and this will take time,” Barnier also said.
