The UK government needs an outline deal on how much it will pay on leaving the European Union before any talks on a possible trade agreement can begin, according to Spain’s deputy minister for European affairs.
“Before starting to negotiate the future framework of the relationship between the EU and the UK, we have to agree, at least, the basic principles of the financial implications of the exit agreement,” Jorge Toledo said in Madrid.
Toledo pushed back against British efforts to open up divisions between the other EU members as the bloc prepares a mandate for its top negotiator, Michel Barnier. He said that Barnier has Spain’s full support in representing the interests of all the other 27 EU states.
While it’s in Spain’s interest to avoid disrupting its close economic links with the UK, protecting the European project is a priority for the government in Madrid, Toledo said at a conference in the capital.
“We can’t allow the UK situation outside of the European Union to be as good as, or better than, it was within the European Union,” said Toledo, who was previously an adviser to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, focused on European affairs and the group of 20 nations. “If that was the outcome, it would spell the end of the European project.”
Britain should be charged about €60 billion ($64.9 billion) when it leaves the EU, Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern said last month. Some UK ministers are urging Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond to cap the exit payment at £3 billion ($3.7 billion), The Times reported.
“There are a lot of aspects of the negotiation that we would regard as a zero-sum game, ” said Toledo at the conference. “All that the UK doesn’t pay on exit, we will have to pay. In particular, Spain would have to cover about 10%.”
EU leaders will probably approve an outline plan for the negotiations at an extraordinary summit on 29 April. British Prime Minister Theresa May is due to notify the EU of the UK’s intention to leave on 29 March.
“It’s a very important moment because all the red lines that the 27 states have should be approved by then,” said Toledo.
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