The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Prime Minister under fire over Brexit deal optimism
EC president leaves Downing Street meeting ‘10 times more sceptical’
Theresa May is under fire over her Brexit negotiating strategy following reports European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker walked out of talks saying he was “10 times more sceptical than before”.
Opposition parties warned the UK was heading for a “disastrous hard Brexit” after a detailed account of their meeting last week in Downing Street suggested Mr Juncker left fearing the talks would end in failure.
Downing Street said it did not recognise the latest report that appeared in a German newspaper.
However, the reported disclosures threatened to sour the mood between London and Brussels before negotiations have even begun.
The European Union side – which included chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier – was said to have concluded that Mrs May was way too optimistic about the prospects for a deal.
When the Prime Minister told them “Let us make Brexit a success”, Mr Juncker was said to have replied “Brexit cannot be a success”.
At one point the commission president was said to have brandished copies of Croatia’s EU entry deal and Canada’s free trade deal, which runs to 2,000 pages.
Mrs May was also said to have angered the EU side when she warned that the UK could not be forced to pay a “divorce bill” for leaving because there was no requirement under the treaties, which drew the response that the EU was “not a golf club”.
As he left, Mr Juncker was said to have told her: “I leave Downing St 10 times as sceptical as I was before.”
The following morning he rang German Chancellor Angela Merkel to warn her that Mrs May’s approach was from a “different galaxy”.
Mrs Merkel responded by rewriting a speech she was giving that day to warn that some in Britain were still harbouring “illusions” about the Brexit process.
No 10 said it did not recognise the account of the meeting which took place over dinner last Wednesday.
A Government spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister and JeanClaude Juncker made clear, this was a constructive meeting ahead of the negotiations formally getting under way.”