Britain Rejects ‘Brexit Bill’, Insists Europe Owes United Kingdom £8.5 Billion

The Prime Minister has said the European Union (EU) must pay a €10 billion (£8.5 billion) ‘Brexit bill’ to the UK because of jointly owned assets and projects such as the European Investment Bank (EIB).

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, Theresa May said “money paid in the past” by the UK must be taken into account in the final divorce settlement.

She insisted the UK has financial “rights” that must be respected during discussions about payments as well as “obligations” to the body it is leaving.

The UK’s share of the bank has been estimated at 16 per cent, which equals to around €10bn.

The EIB is the EU’s “policy-driven bank” that uses financing operations to bring about deeper European integration. Its shareholders are the member states of the EU.

Mrs. May’s demand to be paid for Britain’s share is a clear retort to the EU’s demand the UK pay a ‘Brexit bill’ to the bloc when it leaves, which was recently hiked from €60 billion to €100 billion.

According to the EU’s hardliner Brexit negotiators, the UK will be charged for such things as post-Brexit farm payments, the migrant deal with Turkey, and the potential relocation of any EU institutions from the UK.

“There is much debate about what the UK’s obligations might be or indeed what our rights might be in terms of money being paid in the past. We make it clear that we would look at those both rights and obligations,” Mrs. May explained.

The prime minister rejected the amounts that “some of the figures the EU”, such a Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, have been pushing for the UK to pay out.

Pushed on what areas Britain may be “owed a proportion” of when it leaves, Mrs. May added:

“There’s the investment bank, there’s the investment fund, there are various areas. This will be, as you know, an important part of the negotiations.”