UK's Brexit bill will be around £50bn, EC President Juncker says

Britain's bill for exiting the European Union will be close to £50bn and "must be honoured", European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said, but he is not approaching the impending divorce proceedings in a hostile mood.

The EC chief told the BBC that the Brussels would negotiate with the UK in a friendly and fair way but that a bill would have to be paid - but the final amount had not been precisely calculated yet but that it was "around" £50bn.

"The British government and parliament took on certain commitments as EU members and they must be honoured. This isn't a punishment or sanctions against the UK," he said.

Part of the reason seemed to be the prevention of other countries from following the UK lead.

Juncker insisted the 4.5m EU citizens living in the UK and British citizens currently living across the EU would not be forced to leave.

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to launch the two-year process of negotiations to leave the EU on 29 March by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

In a 'guide to Brexit' published on Thursday, Deutsche Bank said a so-called 'hard Brexit', with no transitional agreement and WTO rules was avoidable, with a very broad agreement on a new relationship between the UK and EU27, combined with a transitional deal, possible before March 2019.

The bank felt it was likely that the UK will have to abandon its strategy of a comprehensive new relationship being concluded by March 2019 and accept compromises on the budget, sovereignty and freedom of movement for a transitional deal, while some political difficulties only look resolvable with an early UK general election.