EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, says he needs to know what Britain is willing to pay before talks can move forward

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned the British government that it must make clear its opening position on the divorce bill this summer in order for progress to be made on a wider deal.

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Following what the UK Brexit secretary, David Davis, admitted were “robust” exchanges on the issue of money over the previous four days, Barnier told reporters, at the close of the first week of substantive Brexit talks, that he urgently needed to see a UK position on the the amount the UK would pay to leave the bloc.

“As I said very clearly to David, a clarification of the UK’s position is indispensable for us to negotiate and for us to make sufficient progress on this financial dossier, which is inseparable for the other withdrawal dossiers,” Barnier said. “We can’t do anything without a global picture as for instance what the United Kingdom are prepared to accept as being their obligation that would be covered by the withdrawal agreement. And then we can work towards compromises. But at the moment we are still clarifying.

“As soon as the UK is ready to clarify the nature of its commitments, we will be prepared to discuss this with the British negotiators... This week’s experience has quite simply shown that we make better progress where our respective positions are clear.”

Echoing complaints from officials on the British side about a lack of flexibility from the Europeans in the early exchanges, Davis responded: “We have had robust but constructive talks this week. Clearly there is lot left to talk about and further work before we can resolve this. Ultimately getting a solution will require flexibility on both sides.”



British officials have spent long days in hot meeting rooms in the Berlaymont building, the EU executive’s headquarters in Brussels, firing questions at the other side about Britain’s bill for exiting the EU, which is reputed be as much as €75bn (£67bn) net under the European commission’s calculations. Both sides think they can reach an interim agreement without spelling out the number, instead concentrating on the methodology for calculating the bill.

But while the EU has provided a detailed position paper on the bill, the UK has limited itself to accepting that it has some obligations to meet and it is unlikely to comply with Barnier’s demands for a detailed paper in coming weeks. Asked whether the UK even accepted that there would be a net flow of money from the UK to the EU, Davis declined to comment at the press conference.

One EU official said that talks on money had had to be curtailed due to Britain’s failure to provide any information on their position. “This week the EU side provided a detailed legal analysis underpinning the list of obligations,” the official said. “The UK was not in a position to present its legal analysis of what falls in to the scope and what it recognises. We had a therefore very short discussion on the UK share.”

Barnier and Davis did say the week’s negotiations had been constructive and that progress had been made in understanding each other’s stances on some key issues, but there were clear signs of tensions between the two sides.

On arriving for the press conference more than 20 minutes later than scheduled, Barnier thanked the reporters gathered for their patience, adding that it was a crucial virtue in negotiations. “Particularly for us,” Davis said.

On the issue of citizens rights, Barnier told reporters that he was pleased by the detailed offer provided by the UK, but there remained serious issues to resolve. Foremost among those, he said, was the EU’s “insistence” that the rights of the 3.3 million EU nationals in the UK will be overseen by the European court of justice, a red line for Theresa May.

“In the withdrawal agreement itself, citizens must be able to find the legal certainty that they need in their day-to-day lives,” Barnier said. “Quite frankly, as far as we are concerned we can see no other way in which can guarantee the permanent continuation of such European rights as exercised. Clearly any reference to European rights implies their oversight by the courts of justice of the European union.”

Davis responded: “We agree on the need for certainty on the part of citizens both in the EU and the UK. We obviously have different views on how we achieve that.”

Barnier said that while the first, one-day round of talks on the 19 June had been about organising the future talks, “this round has been about presentation; the third round must be about clarification”.

He added: “I know one has to compromise in negotiations but we are not there yet. When I say, and I think I was very clear and transparent about that, that there are things that are inseparable from others. That’s the financial settlement, let’s be very clear. We want clarity on that because we need to be able work more until we come to areas of compromise.”

British officials expect little further progress over the summer but are hopeful of agreeing an outline deal on citizens rights in September and October having at least now agreed where they disagree.

The two sides published a joint “traffic light” document on Thursday, which went through 55 separate issues of contention and marked them according to how much progress had been made. This records 24 areas of broad agreement on citizens rights, such as schooling for children and the status of existing family members, but 27 that were marked red or amber due to outstanding clashes – many of which involving the role of the European court of justice.

Nonetheless, British officials privately concede that some form of international ombudsman may be necessary to enforce future rules and are hopeful that the EU may meet them half-way by accepting an alternative to the ECJ.

At Thursday’s press conference, Davis brushed off criticism that he only engaged in one hour of talks on the first day of negotiations, claiming he was “rather amused” by some of the hostile coverage. “We had 98 officials here reporting to me on a regular basis,” he said. The Brexit secretary also denied a claim from the trade secretary, Liam Fox, that the UK did not need a free-trade deal with the EU to thrive.

Barnier and Davis later in the day ate Scottish scallops and British lamb at a lunch in the British ambassador’s residence, where they had the option of English sparkling wine or French wine.