[...] Wolfgang Schäuble told the Financial Times that, even after Brexit, the UK would be bound by tax rules that would restrict it from granting incentives to keep investors in the country — and would also face EU budget bills for more than a decade.
“Until the UK’s exit is complete, Britain will certainly have to fulfil its commitments,” he said. “Possibly there will be some commitments that last beyond the exit … even, in part, to 2030 … Also we cannot grant any generous rebates.” [...]
In addition to demands for long-term financial payments, Mr Schäuble insisted Britain must stick to international rules on investment incentives, a clear signal Berlin would closely watch commitment like those Mrs May made to carmaker Nissan, which recently won government assurances before it agreed to build new models in the UK
“These rules apply to all whether EU members or not,” he said.
Mr Schäuble noted that Group of 20 agreements commit members to limiting tax avoidance — an initiative, led by Germany and the UK, that would reduce Britain’s ability to grant breaks to companies, even after leaving the bloc.
“The UK is still a member of the EU and it is a country which has always upheld the valid regulations, valid laws and valid treaties,” said Mr Schäuble.
He added that the UK should be prepared for financial services to move to European centres such as Frankfurt, Germany’s financial hub, and backed continental calls for the City of London to lose its lucrative euro-clearing business.
Euro clearing must be done within the eurozone because “the euro is the EU’s common currency even when not all member states of the EU have this currency”, he said. [...]
The UK would not get special treatment on migration if it wanted to remain in the EU’s common market, he said, describing freedom of movement as a core element of the internal market. “There is no à la carte menu. There is only the whole menu or none,” he said, arguing that British restrictions on EU immigration would end financial services companies’ free access to EU markets under so-called passporting rules.
“Without membership of the internal market, without acceptance of the four basic freedoms of the internal market there can, of course, be no passporting, no free access for financial products or for financial actors,” he said. [...]
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