Huge Brexit bill could scupper deal, admits EU chief negotiator

EU CHIEFS have admitted for the first time that their unrelenting pursuit of a huge Brexit bill could cause negotiations to collapse.

Revealing concerns about the increasingly hard-line approach of some EU leaders, the bloc’s chief negotiator warned that demands for a huge payment could be disastrous for the talks.

Michel Barnier’s fears were revealed in minutes of a sensitive meeting between high-level Brussels officials.

They contradict wide-spread claims of ‘unity’ amongst the EU’s different arms.

The most powerful countries – such as France and Germany – have demanded that the scope for determining the controversial bill should be widened.

British ministers reacted with fury when it was reported that the tougher approach could see negotiators in Brussels ask for a bill of up to £85billion.

But in a meeting led by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Mr Barnier, pictured, warned that the approach could derail talks and infuriate Downing Street.

He told commissioners that agreeing a figure for the payment would be ‘one of the most difficult [parts] in the negotiation’. The minutes read: ‘However, should there be no agreement on this point, he believed that the risk of failing to reach an agreement on an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom would become real.’ The French official also revealed that member states are seeking the huge payment over fears that they will have to make up the shortfall once the UK’s £8.6billion annual payment to the EU ends.

And other countries harboured concerns that they would no longer benefit from Brussels-backed investments without the UK’s money, he added.