“We made an agreement in May — that should be the foundation for our conversation,” said a second person, an EU diplomat, also granted anonymity to speak freely about the talks.
“So we shouldn’t then in November come back and try to add to it the contributions to cohesion funds that we didn’t agree in May, even if that’s the principle that we feel is warranted … We have to take care of our relationship with the U.K.”
The diplomat summarized the divide: “Do you say to the Commission: You have to make the U.K. pay … or do you say, you know, we should explore whether it’s possible for the U.K. to pay.”
Pay to play
Cash payments to the EU budget are a touchy political subject in Westminster and were a key feature of the Brexit campaign — where the Leave campaign complained loudly about the amount of cash sent to Brussels.
While the U.K. is open to paying for access to EU programs, London says it wants value for money.
Previous negotiations over the U.K.’s rejoining the Horizon science research program dragged on amid U.K. bartering over the cost, and Starmer’s government this week pushed back on the EU’s opening offer of €6.75 billion for access to its SAFE rearmament program, Bloomberg reported.