The United Kingdom will not pay a bill of € 100 billion for divorce with the European Union, British Brexit Secretary David Davis insists. London will pay for what it legally owes and "not what the EU wants," he warned.
The British minister responded to ITV in a Financial Times publication, the first issue in the electronic edition of the newspaper a few hours before the presentation by chief European negotiator Michel Barnier of the main pillars of negotiation on the Brussels side. According to the report, the European Union is likely to demand an upfront payment in the year 2019 of up to EUR 100 billion in view of the British exit, bringing the amount of 60 billion that has been circulated so far, at a time when London believes it owes nothing .
Davis has also rejected a Times report according to which the European Union will let Teresa May negotiate directly with chief negotiator Michel Barnier, rather than with EU leaders.
"We start this negotiation not as peasants, but as negotiators. There are two sides in the deal and the other side of the deal will not determine who does what, "he said.