One U.K. official said they did not recognize a deadline as having been imposed Friday, adding that they believed there was more time to negotiate and they would do so in good faith.
The Commission has slashed the amount of money it wants the U.K. to pay to take part in SAFE. The new ask is for €2 billion, a significant drop from the original demand of between €4.5 billion and €6.5 billion. However, it’s still much more than London is willing to pay to participate in joint procurements financed by SAFE, which some officials estimate in the tens of millions of euros.
Canada is also negotiating access to SAFE procurements, and those talks are going much more smoothly, EU diplomats said.
Ottawa is expected to pay a few hundred million euros to join SAFE; London’s offer of only tens of millions creates a mismatch as the U.K. has a larger defense industry that is more closely integrated with other European countries, meaning it stands to reap greater benefits from SAFE than Canada.
Talks are now expected to move to a higher political level, possibly at the G20 in Johannesburg. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is there along with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Esther Webber contributed reporting from London.
This article has been updated.