EUROPE is ready to start talking trade with the UK in December, as long as Britain pays its debts.
That was the message to Theresa May as the leaders of the EU’s remaining 27 countries met in Brussels yesterday.
It was a message she was seemingly responsive to, with reports suggesting she had promised her fellow premiers that the UK would be willing to pay billions more than the initial £20bn promised last month in her Florence speech.
READ MORE: Theresa May says there is agreement with Europe on post-Brexit Ireland border
May, who addressed the leaders for five minutes late on Thursday night, after dinner, during coffee, is said to have told them her offer in Italy was “not the final word”.
The Prime Minister added that she had made concessions to EU demands because she “recognised the difficulty the process was in”.
“I took stock, listened to what people in UK were saying and what my friends and partners in Europe were saying and I made a step forwards,” she told them.
The Tory leader asked the other politicians to agree an “outcome that we can stand behind and defend to our people”.
At her press conference yesterday, the Prime Minister dodged three questions over how much more the UK might be willing to pay, and, notably, refused to deny deny suggestions that it could be “many more billions”.
Reportedly, ministers think the UK could end up having to pay another £20bn higher on top the £20bn already promised.
“We will honour the commitments that we made during our membership,” May said.
“Now there has to be detailed work on those commitments .... and we will continue going through them line by line and the British taxpayers wouldn’t expect its government to do anything else.”
She added: “I’m positive and optimistic about where we can get to in relation to the future partnership that we want with the EU, because it is not only in the interests of the British people, it is in the interests of people across the remaining 27 members of the EU as well.”
She indicated that Britain will be ready to pay “relevant costs” of continued participation in EU projects in areas like science, research and criminal justice.”
“The full and final settlement will come as part of the final agreement that we are getting in relation to the future partnership and I think that’s absolutely right, I think that can only be done in that particular context.”
May is under pressure to have some sort of stability organised by the end of the year, with firms already pulling out staff and moving new operations elsewhere.
On Wednesday, Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs tweeted: “Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit.”
Yesterday, in a boost to May, EU leaders agreed to instruct civil servants to undertake work on a common position on what they would want from a trade deal with the UK.
However, in his press conference French President Emmanuel Macron said that “much work needs to be done”.
“I would say we are far from having reached the necessary financial commitments before we can open phase two,” he said. “We are not halfway there.”
He dismissed talk of “no deal” suggesting it was nothing more than “bluffing” by “secondary players”.
“The problem for May is that those who pleaded in favour of Brexit never explained to the British people what the consequences would be,” said the French president.
However, reports yesterday suggested David Davis, the Brexit secretary is to present an “upbeat assessment” of a no-deal scenario to the cabinet next week, May said it would “irresponsible” for him not to.
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