European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen dodged a meeting with the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at COP30 in Brazil about Brussels’s demand that London pay billions of euros to secure improved ties.
The British leader sought the meeting to complain about EU demands that the UK pay up to €6.5bn to participate in a loans-for-weapons programme and make separate contributions to the EU budget, according to two people briefed on the situation.
A Commission spokesperson confirmed that Starmer had requested time with von der Leyen at the climate conference in Belém, Brazil, but said the meeting did not happen for scheduling reasons.
A UK official said: “We weren’t trying to pin her down to talk about this specific issue. In the end they didn’t end up meeting. He hasn’t spoken to her for a while.”
A UK government spokesperson said: “We will only agree deals that provide value to the UK and UK industry. Nothing has been agreed and we will not give a running commentary on ongoing talks.”
Von der Leyen’s decision to not make time to meet Starmer is a sign of the sensitivities in Brussels over how to deal with its former member.
While EU-UK relations have thawed under Starmer’s Labour government, many EU members do not want to see the UK regain any benefits of membership cost-free to avoid setting a precedent.
Still, the EU has been keen to enlist Britain in its rearmament drive to deter Russia, under its SAFE programme that would help European countries to jointly procure new weapons.
“When we talk of European defence, the UK is part of that,” said one senior EU diplomat. But France and others are insisting the UK pays a hefty price in return for the benefits to UK industry.
The deadline to submit bids for SAFE projects is November 30, with one of the two people briefed on the situation suggesting that a discussion between von der Leyen and Starmer could take place before then to find a solution.
The wrangling over money comes six months after a landmark summit in May that formally announced a EU-UK “reset”, showing how hard it will be to convert warm words into binding agreements.
Some of the most sensitive issues were fudged as the two sides raced to complete the summit’s “Common Understanding” document, which remains the basis for the coming negotiations.
In particular, many member states, led by France, pushed for the commission to make tougher demands on the UK in areas including youth mobility and the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme.
The UK is offering a scheme for 18-30-year-olds to live and travel that is based on a “memorandum of understanding”, an instrument it uses with other countries, and with a cap on numbers.
The member states have tabled an unlimited scheme with EU students paying the lower “home fees” UK universities charge domestic students, which they want to be legally binding.
London has said it will only rejoin the Erasmus+ study abroad scheme with a 50 per cent discount since more EU citizens come to the UK than the other way round, with EU diplomats saying that was unacceptable.
The EU side wants the UK discount to only apply for one year in 2027 and not exceed 30 per cent, according to officials in Brussels.
As for a flagship veterinary deal that would reduce checks on food, plants and animals if the UK agrees to follow EU standards, the EU has not yet agreed to formally start talks.
Member states on Friday postponed signing off their mandate for that deal and for the terms of the UK’s re entry to the single energy market, which would reduce power prices.
The delay was caused by divisions over whether the UK should pay into the EU’s regional funds as a price of relinking the two sides’ emissions trading schemes — allowing businesses in each jurisdiction to avoid carbon border taxes — and other agreements.
A majority of member states say the UK should make such payments just as countries with closer EU economic ties such as Norway and Switzerland do, according to four diplomats familiar with the talks.
But a handful led by Germany and the Netherlands have argued against that approach for the policy areas outlined in the “Common Understanding” document agreed in May, the diplomats said.
Those states have said the EU should not make demands for payment into regional funds now on those areas given it had not done so in the May document, they added.
The states led by Germany and the Netherlands fear damaging the relationship ahead of next year’s planned summit. Member state ambassadors will meet on Tuesday to try to thrash out a solution.
