Sunday Telegraph today citing 3 unnamed sources close to the negotiations
- British officials were likely to offer to pay €10 billion a year for three years after leaving the EU in March 2019, then finalise the total alongside detailed trade talks
- payments would only be made as part of a deal that included a trade agreement
The paper quotes a "senior Whitehall source" as saying:
"We know (the EU's) position is 60 billion euros, but the actual bottom line is 50 billion euros. Ours is closer to 30 billion euros but the actual landing zone is 40 billion euros, even if the public and politicians are not all there yet"
"A second Whitehall source said Britain's bottom line was "30 billion euros to 40 billion euros" and a third source said Prime Minister Theresa May was willing to pay "north of 30 billion euros"
David Davis, the UK Brexit minister said on July 20 that Britain would honour its obligations to the EU but declined to confirm that Brexit would require net payments while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said last month the EU could "go whistle" if it made "extortionate" demands for payment.
The EU has floated a figure of €60bln ( some talk even of 100bln) and wants significant progress on settling Britain's liabilities before talks can start on future trading arrangements and other key areas, and yes the clock is well and truly ticking.
Meanwhile former BOE gov Mervyn King Britain needs to make clear to the European Union that it is prepared to go it alone if it fails to reach a satisfactory deal in Brexit talks
"If you are going to have any successful negotiation, you have got to have a fall-back position, which the other side understands and believes is credible"
More from Reuters on both here
I'm out of here now. Enjoy the rest of your week-end one and all. See you back here tomorrow.
Brexit bill still a major area of concern
