EU leaders are meeting Saturday in Brussels, Belgium, to finalize their negotiating principles for Britain’s exit from the European Union, amid signs they plan to take a tough stance over its financial commitments to the bloc.
Britain is not invited to the special summit of 27 EU nations, at which the leaders will formally adopt the guidelines for two years of what are set to be grueling divorce talks. It will be their first meeting since British Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the official withdrawal process a month ago.
The Brexit negotiations are expected to begin soon after the UK snap general election is held on June 8.
The UK government had hoped to be able to negotiate a new trade deal with the European Union at the same time as carrying out the complex process of unraveling a relationship lasting more than 40 years.
But the European Union has insisted that progress must be made on key issues around Britain’s continued budgetary commitment to the European Union, the future status of EU citizens living in Britain and the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland before talks on future relations with Britain can begin.
In a statement Saturday ahead of the talks, European Council President Donald Tusk said: “We all want a close and strong future relationship with the UK. There’s absolutely no question about it. But before discussing the future, we have to sort out our past. We will handle it with genuine care, but firmly.”
Tusk said the foremost priority for the European Union was to ensure “solid guarantees for all citizens and their families who will be affected by Brexit, on both sides,” and that the 27 EU nations must present a united front in talks with Britain.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday warned Britain not to hold any “illusions” about what Brexit means for its future, saying that it “cannot and will not have the same rights as a member of the EU.”
Brexit ‘bill’
Last month, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told the BBC that Britain would need to stump up roughly £50 billion ($62.4 billion) as it leaves the European Union in order to honor its financial obligations.
But the UK government has indicated that it does not expect to pay nearly that much. Brexit Secretary David Davis told the BBC last month that Britain would “meet (its) international commitments” but that the bill would be “nothing like” the tens of billions of euros suggested by Juncker and others.
EU member states pay into a communal budget, which finances infrastructure projects, social programs, scientific research and pensions for EU bureaucrats. The bloc’s budget is negotiated to cover a period of years, with the current agreement extending to 2020.
Britain pays roughly £10 billion a year ($12.5 billion) a year more into the budget than it receives in benefits — a fact often cited by supporters of Brexit — and its departure will leave a large hole in the bloc’s finances.
Northern Ireland status
The EU has also said that resolving the thorny issue of the Irish border must be a priority in the upcoming negotiations.
In a letter to the 27 EU leaders Friday, Tusk said Europe should aim to avoid a “hard border” between the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the EU after Brexit, and Northern Ireland, which leaves as part of the UK.
Border controls between the north and south were eased as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the 1998 accord that brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of sectarian conflict.
Ireland was expected to ask Saturday that Northern Ireland be allowed to enter the EU automatically if the two Irelands ever unite, an EU Council source confirmed. The EU is not taking a stance on unification, which would be decided by the people of Ireland and Northern Ireland in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement.
But Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams called for the Irish government to go further in demanding “a political declaration from the European Council in its negotiation guidelines in relation to securing designated special status for the North within the EU.”
A majority in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union in last year’s referendum. At present, the “soft” border with the neighboring Republic of Ireland facilitates trade and the movement of people.
Both the UK and Irish governments want to maintain the soft border, but have struggled to define how such an arrangement could work after the introduction of what would be Britain’s only land border with the EU.
The issue has forced a discussion on the future status of Northern Ireland: The Good Friday Agreement stipulates that if polls show support for a referendum on unification, then the UK government must offer one. However, a poll by Ipsos MORI in Northern Ireland last September did not suggest great enthusiasm for a united Ireland.