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UK Government Open to Temporary Customs Union With EU After Brexit Wall Street Journal (subscription) LONDONThe U.K. government on Tuesday will formally signal it is open to creating a temporary customs union with the European Union after Brexit as it prepares for fresh talks on its separation from the bloc later this month. In a statement, the U.K ...

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UK Government Open to Temporary Customs Union With EU After Brexit - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Patience is a virtue, and one that will stand us in good stead as we disentangle ourselves from our complex and multi-layered ties to the European Union.

The separation cannot and should not be achieved at a click of the fingers. In order to complete a deal that is effective and mutually beneficial, it may take years rather than months to tie up the lose ends in a satisfactory way.

To put our own administrations and organisations in place to handle the new arrangements could take even longer.

That is why I welcome Government proposals for a future customs relationship. They are achievable as well as practical and they are an excellent point from which both sides can negotiate.

So I am encouraging fellow Eurosceptics who campaigned so hard for a Leave vote last year to remain patient now and not make life more difficult still for our negotiators.

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Nobody wants Brexit more than me, but it should not be done in a click of the fingers - Telegraph.co.uk

Polands European Union future is looking increasingly uncertain as the conflict between Warsaw and Brussels continues to escalate with Witold Waszczykoskis latest attack on the bloc.

The Polish foreign minister accused Mr Juncker and co of waging a policy of harassment and discriminating against Poland.

Mr Juncker and Donald Tusk have mounted a political offensive against the government of Poland, targeting its internal judicial reforms and environmental policies.

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This is only a substitute to deprive Poland of our position and to weaken our negotiating position

Witold Waszczykoski

The tussle is just one example of the EU attempting to stifle growingeuroscepticismby any means necessary.

The latest attack from Brussels came as the blocs leaders said Polands proposed new retirement law which from October 1 will allow women to retire and 60 and men at 65.

The EU said statutory retirement ages for men and women is gender discrimination.

Mr Waszczykoski said the harassment was financially motivated because of the large economy enjoyed by Poland, insisting some European Union countries cannot deal with Warsaws strong position.

He claimed france wants to limit access to its markets because Paris feels threatened by Polish builders, transport companies and tradespeople, which have been accused of undercutting local workers.

The EU had threatened to impose financial sanctions and suspend the Polands voting rights as it seeks to punish Warsaw.

But Mr Waszczykowski laughed off the suggests about the countrys share of the budget being frozen, declaring they could not remove them because they are a right.

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker greets EU Commission Chief spokesperson Margaritis Schinas

Speaking earlier to the BBC, the foreign minister said the EUs action were a smokescreen to cover up their own failures as a political project.

This is an excuse, he said. This is only a substitute to deprive Poland of our position and to weaken our negotiating position maybe in the future budget.

Mr Waszczykowski attributed the blocs action as a cover up for the uncertainty Brussels currently faces.

He claimed the EU had turned on Poland to avoid criticism for the questions they face on security and the common market after Brexit.

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European Union news Poland blasts EU over Warsaw harassment ... - Express.co.uk

TUNIS, 14th of August 2017- UNICEF received 11 million from the European Commission to implement work for the most vulnerable children in Libya.

Across Libya, there are 439,000 children in need of assistance. Migrant children in Libya are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, including in detention centres.

This project is implemented in the framework of the 90 million programme "Managing mixed migration flows in Libya through expanding protection space and supporting local socioeconomic development" financed by the North of Africa Window of the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The main objective of this programme is to comprehensively reinforce protection and resilience of migrants, refugees and host communities in Libya while supporting an improved migration management along the migration routes in the country.

The number of vulnerable children In Libya is growing every day. Thousands of migrant children are transiting through Libya going through dangers and perils. Many others have become internally displaced due to violence, conflict and poverty. They all want a better life. Deprived, unprotected and often alone, vulnerable children in Libya are in dire need for assistance and protection, UNICEF Special Representative, Dr Ghassan Khalil highlighted.

Through this funding, UNICEF will be able to continue its Resilience Building programme to provide access to quality, inclusive and improved child protection and non-formal education opportunities to the most vulnerable children including migrants, refugees, internally displaced, returnees and children from host communities.

For more information, contact:

Mostafa Omar, UNICEF Libya, +216 990 70 815 mosomar@unicef.org

Note to Editors:

The main objective of UNICEF programme is to reinforce protection and resilience of all vulnerable children in Libya while supporting to strengthen the national institutions.

Thanks to this contribution from the EU, 50,000 vulnerable girls and boys will receive psychosocial support care and education services and the capacities of 2,000 teachers and social workers will be strengthened in emergency education.

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UNICEF thanks the European Union for generous funding to protect and educate children in Libya - ReliefWeb

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