The government has dismissed reports from Brussels that Theresa May was from a “different galaxy” to other EU member states on Brexit.
A leaked account portrays Jean-Claude Juncker’s private dinner with the prime minister last week as a disaster.
According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, European Commission officials were astonished at May’s ambition for the talks.
They accused her of having “no plan” and that it was unrealistic to reach a rapid resolution on the status of expatriates, an exit strategy and a trade deal within two years.
The article quotes Juncker as saying that he left the dinner “10 times more sceptical that I was before”.
However, a government source, however, has told Sky News: “We do not recognise this account.
“As the prime minister and Jean-Claude Juncker made clear, this was a constructive meeting ahead of the negotiations formally getting under way.”
The FAZ newspaper reported that May used the dinner to push for an early deal to secure the rights of British workers across the continent.
But Juncker made clear that this could not be settled by June as suggested, given the complex negotiations on topics such as healthcare.
Juncker and Barnier, the chief EU negotiator, were described as astounded by the prime minister’s assertion that the UK did not have to pay “a penny” of the Brexit divorce bill.
That claim was slapped down by Juncker, who argued there would be no UK-EU trade deal without a deal on the money. The FAZ newspaper report concluded that “Brexit cannot be a success”.