On Tuesday 21 February during a speech at the Belgian parliament, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, asserted that the cost of the United Kingdom leaving the EU will be particularly high, with several articles in the British press recently mentioning a figure of almost €60 billion that the United Kingdom would have to pay.
Jean-Claude Juncker also affirmed that negotiating a new relationship with a third country, which the United Kingdom would theoretically become in 2019, will take “years”. The British are also obliged to respect the commitments made to the EU, added Mr Junker, from Luxembourg, and that this would mean that the bill would be extremely hefty.
According to The Daily Telegraph, payment commitments will continue until 2023. Asked about these claims, the Spokesperson for the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, refused to provide any estimates but affirms that this work was currently being carried out at the Commission. He also recommended that a certain distance is taken with regard to the figures reported.
He also pointed out that any discussions regarding the duration of the negotiations would depend on the triggering of article 50 of the treaty by the United Kingdom. This would start the negotiations and would, in theory, begin between 11 and 31 March 2017. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)