There has been a leak from the Commission’s legal team that this line is not coming from the Commission but member states panicking as to either (a) being asked to contribute more or (b) being asked to receive less. Britain’s net contribution is greater than that of all member states except Germany combined and is coincidentally almost exactly the cost of running the Commission. There will be a financial crisis in the rump EU unless they can persuade Britain to keep paying after we have left. That’s why Mrs May is right to say “No deal is better than a bad deal”. They never expected a member state democracy to function without the usual “correction” and are completely at sea. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. As to Mrs May cocking up her campaign, I think it’s panning out exactly as I predicted in my post when the election was announced. People were miffed at being put through an unnecessary election and rapidly tired of the talk of a landslide. She clearly placed Party interest above that of the country and that’s annoying even to people who would otherwise be inclined to vote for her. Expectations of the clown Corbyn were so low than any performance on his part short of drooling idiocy appears successful. And of course the perception that the Tories cannot lose gives a hostile broadcast media even greater scope than usual to savage them. 

Quite - just as reflected in the Counsel's Opinion linked to in the sidebar. I would have total confidence in a positive financial outcome for the negotiation if it was being led by businessmen advised by City of London lawyers. Unfortunately, it's being led by the kind of sociopath attracted to a parasitical life bossing people about from a position of arrogant ignorance and inexperience of productive life. AKA politicians. The current election is largely about choosing the least bonkers team of such sociopaths.