Brexit: Without a trade agreement, the UK will refuse to pay the EU the bill

The United Kingdom will pay the divorce bill with the European Union only if a trade agreement is reached, said the new British Brexit Minister, Dominic Raab, in an interview published Sunday in the United States. Sunday Telegraph

Eurosceptic Dominic Raab, who replaced David Davis on 9 July, after his resignation, said that "some conditionality between the two" was necessary.

"The Article 50 (of the Lisbon Treaty, on the exit process of the EU) requires (…) that there be a future framework agreement for the relationship we will have (with the EU) in the future , so the two are related, "said Raab to the Sunday Telegraph.

" You can not have on one side a part fulfilling all the conditions and on the other side a part that does not fulfill them, or who goes slowly, or who does not engage, "added the minister.

So far, the British government has sent contradictory messages concerning the Brexit Financial Regulation in the framework of an agreement on the modalities for the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU as of the end of March 2019.

British Prime Minister Theresa May accepted in December a financial agreement totaling £ 35-39 billion (EUR 39-44 billion) which, according to the ministers, depended on the establishment of future trade relations.

This agreement was quickly handed over in question by members of the government.

The Minister of Finance, Philip Hammond, a supporter of a "soft" break with the EU had however considered as "inconceivable" the fact that London does not honor its financial commitments even in the absence of a trade agreement, stressing that it was not "not a credible scenario."

The UK must leave the EU by the end of March 2019, and both parties are expected to reach a divorce by the end of October afi n to organize the separation, lay the foundations for their future relationship and give the time to the European Parliament and the national parliaments to ratify the text

Dominic Raab met for the first time this week Michel Barnier, the chief negotiator from the EU and will return there Thursday for further discussions. "If the energy we put into these negotiations, ambition and pragmatism are reciprocal, we will get an agreement in October," Raab told the BBC on Sunday. He added that it would be "frankly irrational" for the EU to opt for "the worst case scenario", that of a lack of agreement at the end of the negotiations.

London as Brussels say want to succeed to an agreement but both are preparing for the eventuality of failed negotiations

Europeans are worried about the stalling of internal discussions and internal questioning of Theresa May's strategy. According to a poll published by the Sunday Times, only 12% of Britons surveyed believe that Theresa May's "Checkers Plan" on Britain's future trade relationship with the EU after Brexit would be "good" for the country.