Michel Barnier’s Brexit team held a “secret briefing” meeting following a leak during the Brexit process where they discussed the difficulty of negotiating with the UK. The BBC Brexit documentary ‘Behind Closed Doors’ follows both Michel Barnier and Guy Verhofstadt during the Brexit negotiation period. In the footage, Mr Barnier’s advisor George Riekeles noted that the EU group were on a knife-edge regarding resolving the issue of EU citizen rights.

The narrator of the documentary said: “The good mood doesn’t last long because Michel Barriers team is terrified of more leaks.

“They are also scared of Guy Verhofstadt causing trouble over the issue of EU citizen rights.”

Mr Barnier’s advisor Georg Riekeles then said: “The threshold for stirring up sh*t is very low at present.

“The point is, on citizens’ rights, on the financial settlement and Ireland, we’re at the maximum of what we could obtain.

“However, we think we got the maximum we could get, a lot more in fact than we hoped to get.

“For months and months, we kept saying: The European Parliament will never accept this, we need more.”

“Theresa May’s position within her own government is delicate.

“If she doesn’t come back, n a few hours before the end of this week to sign this then the most probable scenario is that we end this bloody Brexit with no deal.

“We’re on a knife-edge because in reality what is written there is unacceptable for them.”

Despite Tory leadership candidates hinting at attempting to reopen negotiations with the EU regarding Brexit, the EU maintains that they have offered the UK their final deal and won’t be making any concessions.

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