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Stoke fan Rob Evans arrived at the Metrobar Brexit party in Derby wearing a Boris Johnson mask, Amy Jones reports.

The 29-year-old, who works in sport, clutched a pint and a jagerbomb and repeatedly muttered "Brexit means Brexit".

"This is Boris' Britain. I'm actually delighted that it's done," he added.

His friend Rob Doe, also from Stoke-on-Trent, said he was "happy" Brexit was finally over the line.

The 37-year-old retail administrator said: "I actually voted Remain in 2016, but it's been going on for so long that I'm just happy it's over.

"It was a democratic decision. I think everyone should be pleased that it's finally sorted, it's time for us to move on. I think we should celebrate tonight, it's a historic occasion."

In the Derby bar the DJ played a selection of songs that gave a nod to the historic occasion. Brexit fans waved Union flags to Steps track Better Best Forgotten and Keane's Everybody's Changing.

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UK exits European Union with parties across the country - Telegraph.co.uk

Ahead of the UKs imminent departure from the European Union this week, arch Brexiteer Nigel Farage has revealed what he will miss about working in the European Parliament.

Speaking to LBC earlier today, Farage who has been a Member of European Parliament since 1999 said that he would particularly miss the social perks of being an MEP.

I will miss ironically Strasbourg, he said.

For those that havent been, it really is worth coming here and the wine tour in the Voges mountains. It really is worth visiting. Alsace is lovely. The food. I love regional food, seasonal food, all of thats wonderful.

Farage then attempted to justify his personal extravagance by saying it was payback for having to work 13 hours a day as an MEP. For the record, Farage has the 67th worst plenary attendance record out of 72 current British MEPs, and the 733rd worst record out of all MEPs.

The Brexit Party leader added, however, that he wouldnt miss Brussels, claiming the city is deteriorating in the most extraordinary way, and that hes been mugged three times in the area.

I wont miss Brussels one little bit, Farage said.

We doubt it will miss him, either.

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Nigel Farage reveals what he will miss about the European Union - Scram News

While the UK parliament has passed the EU withdrawal agreement and argued over whether Big Ben bongs at the moment of Brexit, the European Union has been sharpening its position for the next phase of talks.

Over this month, more than 200 EU diplomats have taken part in 11 seminars totalling more than 35 hours. Led by the team of the chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, the seminars, which conclude on Wednesday with a meeting of EU ambassadors, are intended to keep the bloc together, before difficult talks on the post-Brexit future relationship.

The EUs opening offer has been confirmed: the UK will be given a zero-tariff, zero-quota free-trade deal, in exchange for signing up to core EU standards to protect the environment, workers and consumers rights, and avoiding unfair state subsidies. Known as the level playing field, these standards are like a slogan through a stick of rock for the EU.

For now, it remains undecided whether that means following the precise letter of EU law or the UK being allowed to adopt equivalent standards. One source said that depended on the level of risk and size of the sector.

If any British government broke these terms, it would face fines. The EU is also insisting on independent regulators to uphold the agreement in the UK, although the role of the European court of justice remains unclear.

Some British commentators have argued the EU is guilty of the charge often levelled at the UK: trying to pick out the best bits of the UK-EU trading relationship, without accepting the consequences of Brexit.

The EU counters that it has made the UK an exceptionally generous offer. The EU does not have a zero-tariff, zero-quota, traditional free-trade agreement with any country in the world, so wants corresponding guarantees in return. EU governments fear that if UK firms are allowed free entry to the EU market without following rules, for example on chemicals, industrial pollution or worker safety, British firms will have an unfair advantage.

Trade is only one aspect of the upcoming talks. The EU envisages one single agreement with the UK, with two core parts: one on economic relations, including trade, but also energy, fish and transport. The second part will cover security, including police co-operation, data-sharing and external security. Notably, the EU sees security co-operation underpinned by the UKs membership of the European court of human rights, a body that predates the EU that is also a bete noire for British Eurosceptics.

The entire deal will be underpinned by one dispute settlement mechanism, although it is not clear how far this includes a role for the EU court of justice.

Because the EU is acting in its own interest. Maintaining the status quo on fishing rights is a top priority for the EUs Atlantic and North Sea coastal states. Barniers plan to link negotiations on fishing quotas to trade talks has general support from EU member states, according to an internal document.

In contrast, the EU does not see financial services as being up for negotiation: it will decide on whether financial firms in the City of London, such as banks and insurance companies, will be granted EU market access (equivalence). Likewise, the EU will make a unilateral decision on whether the UKs data-protection standards are deemed good enough for information exchange, when it issues an adequacy decision.

The EUs policy on allowing workers from the UK will depend on the British governments new migration policy, but Brussels hopes to strike special provisions for students and researchers. Similarly, the UKs participation in EU programmes, such as research and the Erasmus student exchange programme, will depend on whether the UK intends to take advantage of existing rules allowing non-EU countries to take part, if they pay into the budget.

Nobody knows, but the deadline is extremely tight. Talks are expected to begin at the end of next month, after the EU agrees its negotiating objectives on 25 February. That leaves as little as eight months to strike an agreement, because the final text needs to be put to MEPs for ratification by October or November (a procedural deadline that remains fuzzy). The latest internal document from the EU states (in red type) there is a cliff edge in many areas on 31 December 2020, if the two sides fail to reach an agreement, meaning no return to the status quo.

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What has the EU been up to in the run-up to Brexit? - The Guardian

Hungary, Poland, Romania, Croatia and Greece are the five EU countries that do not reach the 50 per cent threshold in the 2019 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The report released by the NGO Transparency International analysed 180 countries, and when it comes to the EU, the misuse of its funds is still a big issue.

The perceptions index was based in answers from 12 independent institutions specialised in governance and business climate.

Europeans taking to the streets to protest corruption in Romania and the Czech Republic.

And a report from Transparency International confirms that most post-communist EU member-states are not addressing the problem effectively.

"There is a lot of fraud committed with EU funds; involving EU funds, but it has been very difficult to tackle this effectively and one of the reasons is that all member states take a different approach. By having a single European Public Prosecutor that will be addressing and tackling these issues, I think we can be confident that it will be easier to take on these cases," Michiel van Hulten, Director of Transparency International EU told our reporter.

Also western powerhouses France and the UK are among the four countries that lost at least three points on the index since last year.

There is some good news though - Spain improved by four points and Greece by three on the index, although Greece is still in the bottom half of the global ratings.

Transparency International focused this year's report on the risks of private entities financing political parties.

It lists Malta as a country to watch closely since it dropped six points since 2015, not to mention the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia remaining unsolved.

One MEP from the European Parliament's Budget Control committee says the EU should intervene.

"If we have lobbies financing some political parties, the people elected will afterwards feel that they owe them something in return; and it is the beggining of corruption. So clearer rules about the financing of political parties," says Michle Rivasi of the French Green party.

The EU is trying to support whistle-blowers and to help fight corruption by adopting a directive that gives them more protection. But the move may still struggle to be effective.

"Whistle-blowers do play a key role and they do deserve protection. But there again, we know what the regulation should be. But there is the matter of translating that regulation into action, into practice in our member states. That passage from the theory to the practice is something that we are looking for," explains Gianluca Esposito, Executive Secretary of "Group of States against Corruption" (Council of Europe).

And it could be two years before the directive is effective.

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The Brief: corruption still a major issue in European Union - Euronews

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says Britain's "colonial history" meant it misunderstood Ireland in Brexit talks and mistakenly thought that the UK and the European Union's other bigger countries would tell Dublin "what's what."

Speaking to the the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Varadkar said a "lot of people" both in Westminster and Britain don't "understand Ireland" and "underestimated the fact that European partners will stay by" Ireland in Brexit talks.

Varadkar said: "You know, Britain has a very powerful history, a very colonial history.

"And I think there were people in Britain who thought that France, Germany and Britain would get together at a big summit and tell the small countries what's what."

"That's not the way the 21st century works, that's certainly not the way the European Union works."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was able to make a breakthrough with Taoiseach Varadkar and the other EU leaders in October after months of deadlock over the question of how to preserve the seamless border on the island of Ireland.

Attention now turns to the future relationship between the UK and the EU, with negotiations on a future trade deal set to get underway in March.

Varadkar said "the reality of the situation" is that the EU will have the upper hand in trade talks.

"I think the reality of the situation is that the European Union is a union of 27 member states. The UK is only one country," the Irish leader said.

"And we have a population and a market of 450 million people. The UK, it's about 60. So if these were two teams up against each other playing football, who do you think has the stronger team? So long as we're united."

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier (left) alongside Leo Varadkar. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

Both sides have less than a year to negotiate new trading arrangements, with Prime Minister Johnson saying he will not in any circumstances extend the Brexit transition period beyond December 2020.

Varadker said he didn't agree with Johnson's claim that there would be "bags of time" to strike a deal, warning that any deal will probably need to go through the "messy" process of being ratified by several European parliaments.

He told the BBC: "So, unlike the Withdrawal Agreement which had to be passed by the House of Commons on the European Parliament, this might have to be passed by the 27 parliaments of all the different member states.

"And that's where it gets messy."

"That's where one country can hold things up, or two countries can, and potentially that might be the reason as to why we may need an extension for another year in order to allow parliaments around Europe, maybe where there are elections happening, who knows, to have a bit more time to consider it."

Varadkar predicted that the biggest flashpoint in talks would be around what is dubbed "level playing field."

The EU says it will only give the UK tariff and quote-free access to European markets if Johnson's government agrees in writing to follow a common set of standards covering the environment, production, labour, and other areas. However, Johnson has said the UK will not commit to a level playing field with the EU after Brexit.

Varadkar said "there's a genuine concern across the European Union, that part of the motivation behind Brexit was for the UK to undercut us in terms of environmental standards, labour standards, product standards, food standards, all of those things.

"Now when I meet Prime Minister Johnson he says, no absolutely not that's not the kind United Kingdom that I want to need as prime minister.

"But we want that written down in law, we want that in a treaty so that we know that the UK will not be undercutting the EU with lower standards."

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The UK's 'colonial' view of the world means it will lose to the EU in Brexit trade talks says Leo Varadkar - Business Insider