CER: The €60 billion Brexit bill: How to disentangle Britain from the EU budget

02 February 2017

The European Commission calculates that the UK has €60 billion of charges to settle. Britain is confident it will face down what it considers to be spurious demands. Ultimately, this political collision could bring the Brexit talks to a sudden and premature end.

• The issues are surmountable. In pure economic terms, even that €60 billion estimate is relatively insignificant, especially when paid over many years. But disputes over EU money are almost always highly-charged and occasionally nasty. A mismanaged negotiation of the bill could easily poison Brexit divorce talks and future UK-EU trade relations.
• The make-up of the bill is little understood, even by EU-27 countries. The €60 billion covers Britain’s potential obligations in three main areas: legally binding budget commitments that will be paid after Britain leaves; pension promises to EU officials; and contingent liabilities – such as bailout loans to Ireland – that would only require payments in certain circumstances.
• The most legally contentious relate to support for EU investment projects that will be paid for after Britain leaves. These liabilities come in two forms: project commitments that have yet to be paid; and structural funds promised to EU member-states, which will largely be turned into ‘budget commitments’ and paid for between 2019 and 2023.
• Both sides are confident in their legal case, and it is hard to predict who would prevail in court. There are few clear legal precedents regarding the liability of departing members of international organisations. But in the Brexit talks, the issues will largely be settled by politics, not law. Some EU negotiators want Britain to promise to honour its financial obligations as a precondition for trade and transition talks.
• The EU-27 are confident Britain will eventually pay, because the costs of a disorderly Brexit are much higher. Theresa May is open to limited contributions to participate in future EU programmes. But she has ruled out paying “huge sums” to the EU after Brexit. An angry reaction in Westminster to a perceived ransom demand from Brussels would further constrain her options.
• There are differences in view between the EU institutions and the EU-27 member-states. Some countries were surprised by the Commission’s aim-high approach. But over time, they could harden their positions and rally around the Commission. After all, Britain’s exit leaves a significant gap in the EU budget. Net-contributors do not want to pay more, and net-recipients do not want to lose out.
•  Any compromise should be built around three broad principles: on an annual basis, any UK legacy payments must be less than its EU membership contribution; the settlement should be presented as ‘Brexit implementation costs’ rather than tied to specific liabilities, like EU pensions; and Brexit should not leave the EU out of pocket for the last two years of its current long-term budget (2019 and 2020). Britain should separately negotiate terms and contribution rates to stay in EU research programmes and the European Investment Bank.
  
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