UK will not pay lump sum Brexit bill, according to draft agreement
The U.K. will pay no upfront Brexit divorce bill to the European Union but will instead continue to act “as if [it] remained a member state” by meeting its ongoing liabilities as and when they arise for decades to come, according to a draft text of a joint agreement with the EU.
The clause forms part of a proposed draft agreement between London and Brussels that was circulated among U.K. officials Monday, the contents of which have been shared with POLITICO. It is a version of the text that was close to being finalized by Prime Minister Theresa May and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker before Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party pulled the plug on the deal in a dramatic 11th-hour reversal for the U.K. prime minister.
The details of the document, according to a U.K. official who was given the draft, covers the three phase one issues of money, Northern Ireland and citizens’ rights, which the European Union has stipulated must be sufficiently resolved before the negotiations can move on to the U.K.’s future relationship with the bloc.
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