Brussels and UK haggle over entry fee for EU defence fund

The EU and Britain are wrangling over an entry fee to allow London to join a 150-billion-euro ($174 billion) fund to bolster Europe's defences, officials said Wednesday.

EU officials say Brussels has asked the UK to pay up to 6.5 billion euros to secure more lucrative access to the programme for British arms manufacturers.

But London -- which left the EU in 2020 after years of bitter negotiations -- appears to have baulked at that initial price tag and is pushing for a better deal, diplomatic sources said.

"Nothing has been agreed, and we will not give a running commentary on talks," a British government spokesman said.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen later said she discussed UK participation in the scheme in an evening phone cal

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