Brussels is pressing the UK to pay into the EU budget for the first time since leaving the bloc in a demand that has engulfed the post-Brexit “reset” in a fresh round of diplomatic recrimination.
EU member states will on Friday discuss how they want London to contribute to the bloc’s regional levelling up funds as the price for dropping checks on animal and plant products and allowing cheaper energy trading, arguing that the UK should pay as Norway, Switzerland and other partners do.
“Third countries that want access to the EU internal market pay,” said an EU diplomat. “You can’t have the benefits of membership when you are not a member.”
The EU demands reflect the growing tension between the two sides just six months after UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen promised a “historic” reset of relations at a summit in Windsor.
FT
This reset provides no real benefits to the UK and is just another capitulation to the EU to appeal to those who will not be satisfied until we revert to being a minor and powerless satellite to an undemocratic and economically moribund Franco-German empire….