EU calls for action from UK
Barnier warns the UK that agreement on financial issues goes hand in hand with other questions and that it accepts that leaving the EU comes at a cost
The EU yesterday put more pressure on Britain and warned that negotiations could become derailed because little progress can be made at present without including the UK’s financial obligations. The chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that London’s financial bills must be paid and this question can not be dissociated from the rights of citizens and the UK’s border with Ireland, two points of the negotiation Brussels considers essential to any final deal. Barnier has called for a response to these questions from British government before the second round of negotiations gets under way next Monday.
The EU’s chief negotiator urged London to better its proposal on the rights of European citizens, to accept the jurisdiction of the European courts, to accept dialogue and lower tension before Monday, when he and the British Minister for Brexit David Davis meet again.
Barnier avoided replying to comments made by the UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson who said on Tuesday that the EU could “go whistle” if it thought that the UK would pay the sum proposed by Europe. Barnier’s only reference was to say “I do not hear anyone whistling, just a clock ticking.” He went on to direct his comments directly to the UK Prime Minitser: “If May does not recognise that there is a bill to be paid then we are wasting our time.” The Frenchman stressed that it is “vital” Britain “recognises the existence of financial obligations.”
Barnier will meet with the leader of the British opposition, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, and the first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones tomorrow respectively.