Brussels: Eurogroup chief Jeroen Dijsselbloem urged Britain on Tuesday to show a "different attitude" in talks with the EU, warning of a disorderly Brexit if London fails to change.
Dijsselbloem, who heads the group of 19 eurozone finance ministers, issued the warning as his British counterpart insisted a smooth Brexit was still possible.
"It can be smooth and it can be orderly, but requires a different attitude I think on the part of the British government," Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, told reporters as he arrived for talks with all 28 EU finance ministers in Brussels.
"Because the things I have been hearing so far are incompatible with smooth and incompatible with orderly."
His comments came shortly before European Commission Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was due to give his first press conference after talks with the other 27 European Union nations.
Dijsselbloem repeated his warning that it would be impossible to maintain Europe's financial capital in London if Britain chooses to thwart EU rules after Brexit.
"If the UK wants access to the internal market, they will have to accept the rules and regulations which go with that internal market," he said.
Asked about comments by other EU leaders that Britain cannot "have its cake and eat it", he added: "I was going to stay away from this cliche but you are absolutely right."
British Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to trigger the two-year divorce process at the end of March in line with the shock June 23 popular vote for Britain to exit the bloc, but has not revealed a clear negotiating position.
Her Finance Minister Philip Hammond said he wanted a deal that worked for both London and the rest of the EU.
"I think that's in everybody's interest on both sides of the English Channel to have as smooth a process as possible," he said as he arrived for the talks.
"That minimizes the threat to European financial fincanical stability and minimizes the disruption to the very complex relationship that exists between European manufacturing buisinesses and their financing banks and so on in London."
Hammond confirmed comments by Brexit Minister David Davis that Britain could continue to pay for access to some parts of the single market.
"What he said was that we wouldn't rule out the possibility of some ongoing contribution in some form if we have an ongoing relationship. That would be something that we have to look at, looking at the costs and looking at the benefits and making a decision based on what's in the best interest for the British taxapyers," he said.
