'UK must pay as much as possible, as long as possible!' Poland's outburst on Brexit bill

Witold Waszczykowski apparently made the remark at
a meeting of diplomats and officials over the summer,
telling them wringing a huge Brexit bill out of the UK
was the “only thing” the 27 are united on.
Poland is by far the biggest single net beneficiary of
the entire club raking in around £8.5 billion ever year,
and potentially has the most to lose when the British
taxpayers’ cash dries up.
And Warsaw's outburst will be seen as another a sign
of how critical the issue of British cash is to the EU,
despite eurocrats' repeated claims that securing
citizens' rights is their number one priority.
Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are currently
blocking a loosening of Michel Barnier’s mandate to
allow for the start of transition talks because they
want to extract more promises of payment from the
UK.
Separately, comments from another senior EU foreign
minister also suggested that European politicians may
be deliberately winding down the clock on the Brexit
negotiations to put pressure on the UK.
Today European leaders were advised not to push too
far with any attempt to “punish” Britain for leaving,
with one eurosceptic MEP warning such a course of
action could backfire on them badly.
The remarks were revealed by Henry Newman, the
director of the Open Europe think tank, at an event in
Brussels yesterday exploring the various trade options
available to Britain after it leaves.
At one point the discussion, which was about the
merits and drawbacks of the UK following either the
Canadian, Norwegian or Swiss models of relationship
with the EU, turned to the sluggish progress of the
talks.
Mr Newman said: "When I was in Warsaw, the Polish
foreign minister told me the EU27 may disagree on
everything but they agree on one thing, which is that
the UK should pay as much as possible for as long as
possible."
He
added
that
during
a
meeting with another top EU foreign minister he had
tried to get to the bottom of why there has been no
“sufficient progress” in the negotiations so far.
Mr Newman relayed: “He refused to say it was any
substantive point, he said we’re just not there yet. He
said it’s like if you’re going on a date and you’ve had
three, four, five dates. So his point was temporal
rather than substantive.”
Tory MEP David Campbell-Bannerman, who was on the
panel arguing in favour of a ‘Super Canada’ style free
trade deal with the EU, then warned the bloc could go
too far in its attempts to make an example out of the
UK.
He said: “Trying to punish your biggest customer is
not the best course of action because we could buy
other cars, we could buy other produce. We all want a
good deal and I want to help the EU get a good deal.
“We’re not out to do each other down. This decision
has been made by the British people democratically
and now we should all work together to get a great
trade deal and remain good friends. If there’s a fall out
that’s not good for Europe.”
Brexit negotiations: UK’s key
policy positions
Wed, September 13, 2017
Here is a summary of the UK’s main proposals for
Brexit
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Mr Newman also expressed concerns that European
leaders have never really tried to understand why
Britain voted to leave, despite the rise of eurosceptic
populism in many other member states.
He said: “People’s understanding of what they voted
for is not what Brussels would think. Outside London
people have quite a sophisticated understanding of the
nuances of the decision they took.
“One thing I’m shocked about is the lack of serious
reflection here on the continent about why Britain left.
I think it’s remarkable that no leading politician has
given a speech about why Britain left.
“That to me is pretty staggering and there’s a sort of
dismissal of the British decision as promises on the
side of a bus or a mad racist decision by the British
people.”

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