LONDON
\nThe European Union has said the Brexit talks could be derailed by an escalating fight over money as it fired back at Boris Johnson for\u00a0telling the EU leaders to \u201cgo whistle\u201d\u00a0if they expected Britain to pay a divorce bill for withdrawing from the bloc.
\n\u201cI am not hearing any whistling, just a clock ticking,\u201d said the EU negotiatorMichel Barnier\u00a0at a press conference in Brussels to preview the next round of talks, due to begin on Monday.
\nHis London counterpart, the Brexit secretary, David Davis, has not yet presented a formal UK position on the scale of any financial settlement when Britain leaves, which some estimates have suggested could be as a high as \u20ac100bn.
\nBut EU officials are adamant that failure to at least acknowledge the principle of ongoing budget obligations would prevent talks from proceeding at all and not allow any discussion of future relationship issues such as a free trade deal.
\n\u201cThe three priorities for the first phase are indivisible,\u201d said Barnier, referring to the financial settlement, citizens\u2019 rights and other separation issues such as the Northern Irish border. \u201cProgress on one or two would not be sufficient in order for us to move on to the discussion of our future relationship.\u201d
\nIn some of the most strident exchanges of the Brexit process so far, Barnier said the issue was not simply a technical sequencing matter but went to the heart of whether the two sides could trust each other.
\n\u201cHow do you build a relationship based on trade, security \u2026 which is going to last, with a country with which you don\u2019t have trust?\u201d implored the French diplomat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON The European Union has said the Brexit talks could be derailed by an escalating fight over money as it fired back at Boris Johnson for\u00a0telling the EU leaders to \u201cgo whistle\u201d\u00a0if they expected Britain to pay a divorce bill for withdrawing from the bloc. \u201cI am not hearing any whistling, just a clock ticking,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n