EU Parliament President Demands €60 Billion, Claims Brits Think Brexit Is a ‘Mistake’

Britain should pay the European Union (EU) a ‘divorce bill’ of “at least €60 billion”, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has insisted, claiming the majority of Brits “now see Brexit as a mistake”.

“If the EU accepted less, European citizens would have to pay for the difference. But why should the Germans, Italians, Spaniards, or Dutch pay the British bill?” he added in an interview with Waz, published Monday.

The European Parliament has previously demanded a veto on the final Brexit deal, and the institution’s ‘Brexit coordinator’, Guy Verhofstadt, has taken a hardline, uncompromising approach.

Mr. Tajani reiterated the EU’s position that all of their financial demands are met before trade talks can begin, as well as “sufficient progress” on the rights of EU nationals in the UK and the Irish border.

“The problem is not us,” he said, referring to the possible delay in the start of the talks. “The EU speaks with one voice,” he said, adding that the “government in London has to fight many difficulties”.

“The British have to tell us which kind of relationship with the EU they want – if they desire the Norwegian model or the Swiss one.

“No one really knows this up to today,” he said, adding: “I think the majority of [British] citizens now see Brexit as a mistake.”

A number of polls have shown the British people still want to leave the EU, but one reported Monday revealed they are losing hope in securing a good Brexit deal.

The survey, by Lord Ashcroft, also showed that almost two-thirds of British voters believe the EU is seeking to punish Britain in the Brexit negotiations and a majority think the EU has the upper hand in the talks.

Last week, an EU official taunted the UK, claiming the nation will become a “colony” of the EU after 2019 after Tory Brexit secretary David Davis admitted the withdrawal agreement will “probably favour” the EU.