Quote:
Originally Posted by OLD BOY
I think €40bn is closer to what the EU is actually aiming for, but they won't get it. Where is the deduction in their calculations for what we have put into the investment bank, for example?
As I said before, there are two sides to the balance sheet. We owe them, but they owe us.
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Exactly. The ridiculously high €100bn figure isn't a legal demand for payment arising from contractual obligations. It is a starting point for negotiation. It is the nearest we will ever get to hearing the European Commision admit that they have no legal basis to demand anything from us and must therefore rely on a political settlement. The fact is, neither the treaties nor the specifics of exit set out in A50 say anything about a retiring state being liable for the ongoing costs of the project, even if that state helped incur those costs.
Further, the Commission clearly wants to separate out the question of the "divorce bill" from the "new relationship" in order to try to stop any payment by the UK into the EU being used as a means of demanding ongoing membership of, or access to, the single market.
In the midst of all this, we should remember that Theresa May has given responsibility for these negotiations to an arch Eurosceptic who has already served as Europe minister under John Major and has SAS training.
David Davis is principled, hard nosed and won't take any messing from the EU's negotiators.