European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier attends an EU's General Affairs Council in Brussels, Belgium, March 20, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier said on Tuesday he expected the most difficult negotiations with London to come at the end of the process.

“We are not at the end of the road. My experience of negotiations, even if this is an extraordinary and unique one, is that what remains at the end is often the most difficult,” Barnier told reporters.

Apart from the key outstanding issue - how to avoid a border on the island of Ireland after Brexit - Barnier said other elements that were still not agreed related to data protection, geographical indications of various goods or the automatic recognition of each others’ court rulings.