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David Davis, the Brexit secretary, pictured with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, is expected to publish a set of detailed proposals on customs arrangements this week. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is expected to set out more clearly the governments hopes for a future customs deal with the European Union this week, to help inform the next round of Brexit negotiations.

With Theresa May not expected to return to her desk in Downing Street from her holiday until Thursday, the government is keen to show that preparations for Brexit have not ground to a halt.

The EU has made clear it will not discuss Britains future trading relationship including customs arrangements until it has reached agreement on several key issues, including the terms of the financial payments Britain will make on exit and the future status of the border in Northern Ireland.

But Mays spokesman said the government has concluded from the early Brexit talks that it cannot make more progress without a clearer sense of what the future relationship might look like.

Weve had the first round of the negotiation, and those talks have shown that many of the withdrawal questions can only be settled in the light of our future partnership, so now is the time to set out our approach to that partnership, to inform the upcoming negotiations, and to provide citizens and businesses at home and across Europe with a deeper understanding of our thinking.

Publishing the position paper is also aimed at sending a formal signal that at least one aspect of the bitter row within the cabinet about Britains future relationship with the EU has been resolved.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, regarded by Conservative backbenchers as the champion of a soft Brexit, has signed up to a joint statement with Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, confirming that Britain would be outside the customs union during the post-Brexit transition phase and that at that point it would be a third country, not party to the EU treaties.

Fox was concerned that he would be unable to strike trade deals with countries outside the EU unless it was made clear that Britain did not expect to remain part of the customs union, whose members cannot strike individual trade agreements, and are expected to apply EU tariffs on imports.

Mays spokesman said: The prime minister set out in January in the Lancaster House speech the need for an implementation period, to avoid a cliff edge for business. The article by the chancellor and the international trade secretary made clear that that is the position of the government.

He added: The customs union as it currently stands has an impact on our ability to make trade deals.

Hammond appears to have conceded that remaining a member of the customs union is not possible, even as an interim arrangement while a detailed deal is finalised.

The Department for Exiting the European Union is also expected to publish a separate paper on Northern Ireland later in the week, which will inform the next round of talks as the border with the Republic of Ireland is one of the issues the EU wants resolved early.

After the last round of negotiations in Brussels last month, the EUs negotiator, Michel Barnier, expressed some frustration at the lack of detail from the British side particularly on the financial settlement.

He said: As soon as the UK is ready to clarify the nature of its commitments, we will be prepared to discuss this with the British negotiators This weeks experience has quite simply shown that we make better progress where our respective positions are clear.

Davis initially insisted Britain would like to negotiate a new trade deal alongside the exit terms, describing discussions over the phasing of the talks as the row of the summer and warning that signing up to a financial settlement early could disadvantage Britain later in the talks.

But when formal negotiations got under way in June, after the general election wiped out Mays comfortable governing majority, Britain quickly signed up to the EUs proposed timetable.

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Brexit: David Davis to set out hoped-for EU customs deal - The Guardian

Picture: Datawrapper/indy100

Since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in June, 2016 the attitudes towards its citizens, migrants and minorities has been firmly under the microscope.

Between 2002 and 2015, Harvard University ran a studyassessing racial prejudices in European continent.

It found that there was a great bias against people of a minority in Eastern Europe, with Czech Republic being found to hold the strongest racial views.

The European Union themselves conducted a similar study, which was published in 2015.

In their research, they asked the 28 EU member nations a series of questions based on their personal beliefs and how comfortable they would be with certain minorities in a variety of situations.

Overall nations like the UK, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden proved to be the most tolerant countries.

Those with consistently racialviews across the board included the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus and Lithuania.

indy100have recreated their findings into a handy series of maps for you to digest the information easier.

HT Bored Panda, Reddit,European Commission

More: This map of Earth is the most accurate ever produced, and it looks completely different

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These shocking maps reveal which European countries are the most racist - The indy100

WORCESTER businesses are being encouraged to take advantage of a workshop where residents can find out more about European Union funding opportunities.

Worcestershire MEP James Carver is urging rural business representatives to take advantage of European Union funding opportunities, by learning more at the pie and pint workshop sessions being held in October and November.

The MEP, who represents the county along with the wider West Midlands and is a member of the European Parliaments regional development committee, said a range of EU funding opportunities are available.

Until the end of the Brexit negotiations when we leave the EU the UK will continue to be a net contributor and its important that British firms take advantage of the funds acquired largely through the contributions of our taxpayers, said Worcester resident Mr Carver.

These workshops are a great idea and I hope businesses will take advantage of the chance to talk to experts who can inform them of the details and provide support in drawing up bids.

Firms that have already benefited from similar funding will also be on hand to share their experiences of the funding process and to outline the benefits to their businesses.

The workshops will take place on Thursday, October 12, at Evesham United Football Club, Spiers and Hartwell Jubilee Stadium, and on Thursday, November 2, at Leysters and Middleton Village Hall, Leysters.

They are being run in partnership between Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, Country Land and Business Association, National Farmers Union and the Worcestershire County Council LEADER Programme.

To register a place on the Pie and Pint workshops call Worcestershire Business Central on 01905 677 888 or email info@business-central.co.uk

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Worcestershire businesses encouraged to take advantage of European Union workshop funding opportunities by MEP - Worcester News

Axel Schmidt | Getty Image

French President Emmanuel Macron at a press conference at the Chancellery on May 15, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.

"Your victory is a sign of hope," European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted in response to Macron's win. "For a Europe that protects, wins and looks to the future."

Optimism for the European Union has surged since Macron's election, according to new research by Oxford Economics published Friday. Only 19 percent of businesses cite a eurozone break-up as the key medium-term risk for the global economy, down from 28 percent in the second quarter survey and the lowest level in more than a year.

Jamie Thompson, Head of Macro Scenarios at Oxford Economics, told CNBC via phone on Friday upbeat sentiment about the eurozone correlates with a drop in concern over European populism.

"Since the Le Pen defeat, concerns about that have collapsed," Thompson said. "Of the eight top risk categoriespopulism is basically at the bottom."

European leaders have stressed the importance of an integrated EU in response to Trump's populist and protectionist threats. The EU and Japan negotiated a major trade deal ahead of the G20 summit that would remove tariffs on some exports between the two blocs.

"The depth of this agreement goes beyond free trade it shows that closing ourselves off to the world is neither good for business, nor for the global economy, nor for our workers," European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement in July.

EU leaders are also taking steps towards creating more military cooperation across the union. The new European Defense Fund aims to generate more than $6 billion per year after 2020 in defense research and development.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed calls for a stronger, more united EU in a speech in Munich in May, saying Europeans must "take our fate into our own hands." Merkel pledged to increase Germany's military spending to two percent of its GDP, amid Trump's repeated demands that EU allies must pay more for defense.

"The times in which we can fully rely on others are somewhat over," Merkel said in her speech in Munich in May this year.

Continue reading here:
How Trump's criticism of the EU makes the region stronger - CNBC

The U.K. will this week seek to regain momentum in the Brexit talks by publishing outlines of its negotiating positions, after two key ministersended their disagreement overa post-European Union transition period.

Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg

The government plans to issue three discussion papers ahead of the next round of discussions, scheduled to start Aug. 28 in Brussels, Brexit Secretary David Daviss office said in a statement on Sunday.

The documents -- setting out proposals for Northern Ireland and the border with Ireland, continuity on the availability of goods, and confidentiality and access to official documents after Brexit -- will seek to prove the U.K. is ready for talks to advance to the next stage, according to the statement.

Britain is struggling with the negotiations, and the sluggish pace so far has sparked concerns the March 2019 exit deadline will arrive without a deal being reached. The EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned ambassadors last month that the lack of progress meant talks on the future relationship with the U.K., including a free-trade agreement, might not be possible by the next summit of the bloc in October and might have to extended.

"Ive launched this process because, with time of the essence, we need to get on with negotiating the bigger issues around our future partnership to ensure we get a deal that delivers a strong U.K. and a strong EU," Davis said. "Its what businesses across Europe have called on both sides to do and will demonstrate that the U.K. is ready for the job."

In a further sign that Prime Minister Theresa Mays Conservative Party is seeking to show a united front, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Trade Secretary Liam Fox published a joint statement in which they said a transition period following Brexit isnt a way for Britain to stay in the European Union through the back door.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, the two cabinet members said that we are both clear that during the period Britain would be outside the single market and the customs union and will be a third country not party to EU treaties.

The ministers were seen being on opposing sides on Brexit, with Hammond championing a business-friendly approach in which Britain gradually leaves the EU, while Fox sought as short a transition as possible and for the U.K. to have the freedom to immediately negotiate trade deals.

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While Mays government seeks to demonstrate to voters and the EU that it has a coherent position, there are still disagreements between the U.K. and the bloc over how to approach negotiating a future trade deal. Barnier has maintained that negotiators must make progress on the rights of EU and British citizens, the border with Ireland and Britains exit payment before discussing a deal. May wants an accord before leaving.

"Weve been crystal clear that issues around our withdrawal and our future partnership are inextricably linked, and the negotiations so far have reinforced that view, the Department for Exiting the EU said in the statement released Sunday. These papers show we are ready to broaden out the negotiations."

A series of broader future partnership papers will also be published in the run-up to the October negotiating session. The first of these will set out proposals for a new customs agreement.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Oct. 19, then again on Dec. 14.

More here:
UK Seeks Brexit Momentum With EU as Key Ministers End Dispute - Bloomberg