Follow the money to see EU's tactics

There are indeed many and various less than noble motives behind the hardball negotiating tactics of Michel Barnier.

Working out what is most important to him is difficult.

What is it the TV cops always say? Follow the money.

The United Kingdom is the second biggest net contributor to the European Union.

Without that contribution a greater burden will fall on the remaining nations left to pay net contributions.

The euro will be under pressure. Belts will be tightened.

Many nations who have always been net recipients will go bust still owing the EU billions.

Brexit threatens the very existence of the EU.

Did it need to come to this? Brussels has always been diligent in collecting the UK’s annual contribution.

Even more keen to extract the eye watering amount of the huge divorce settlement.

However the EU has been less scrupulous in controlling expenditure. For something like 20 years EU accounts have never been completely approved.

“Errors”, in disbursements account for billions every year.

Much of these funds comes from UK. Why, without needing a referendum, did David Cameron not quietly assure Brussels that until the accounting “errors” were eliminated, the money reclaimed and the “erring” EU apparatchiks fired we would withhold our annual contribution.

Financial pragmatism by the EU would have given him most of the of the reforms he asked for without all this fuss.

Davy Wight, Carrick