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Belgian publication De Tijd predicted the chances of the UK securing a proposed customs agreement are low and accused ministers of wanting a no strings attached relationship with Europe.

It claimed that UK voters were beginning to realise that the bogus benefits a divorce from the EU would bring were based on illusions and described Theresa Mays government as weakened.

Separately, the centre-left Slovakian newspaper Pravda claimed in its editorial that Britain could have secured reforms to free movement from within the EU that so many voters wanted.

It said Austria and Germany are already pressing for a tightening of the rules which allow people to circulate around the bloc, saying the UK had gone about securing control over immigration the wrong way by quitting.

A number of senior EU leaders, also including French leader Emmanuel Macron, are pressing for a crackdown on abuses of the free movement principle including limiting the rights of posted workers.

The new Paris chief has taken a surprisingly tough line on immigration as he looks to woo people who voted for Marine Le Pen, and has voiced concerns over wage undercutting similar to those raised last June.

But it is unclear as of yet whether his proposals to crack down on unfair wage competition will get past Brussels, and if they do whether they would be strong enough to assuage some British voters fears about immigration.

In its editorial, Pravda stated: Many would prefer to turn back time and reverse the last year's referendum on the withdrawal of the British from the European Union.

The British want to limit the influx of migrants and want to cut social benefits for those who already arrived, while at the same time benefiting from the free movement of goods and services.

These are reasonable goals. Only the British have chosen the wrong way to reach them. A reasonable reduction in social benefits for migrants could have been achieved if they were to remain in the EU. This is already being discussed in Austria and Germany anyway.

Meanwhile De Tijd, a Belgian economics paper modelled on the Financial Times, laid into the promises made by Brexiteers during the referendum and dismissed the idea of a new customs union with the UK.

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British Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox delivers remarks on 'The Future of UK Trade Policy' at the American Enterprise Institute

It said: "The chances of this are low. Yesterday the EU Commission clearly repeated that three issues had to be resolved before discussions on trade relations.

It is about the rights of EU citizens after Brexit, the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and perhaps the most difficult issue, the agreement on the pending bill the British still have to pay the EU.

As long as no agreement is in sight, other topics have little chance. The weakened British government is in a difficult situation. Apart from the internal disagreement over the nature of Brexit they ultimately want to have it, the British public is aware that the bogus benefits a divorce from the EU would bring were based on illusions.

Brexit is heading for a catastrophe. This can not be covered by ideas of a temporary customs union. This merely reinforces the impression that the British want to have lust without strings. The EU should not allow it.

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European newspapers have said Brexit is unnecessary - Express.co.uk

The EU wants an agreement on how the exit bill will be calculated before talks on the UKs future relationship with the Brussels bloc can move on.

But Brexit Secretary David Davis said it is likely the divorce settlement - to be paid in euros - will still not be agreed by October or November this year.

And he suggested the EU has had a difficult time in the negotiation over the deal, although insisted talks were going well.

Mr Davis said: "We're going to talk it through very, very carefully, so at this stage we're not going to commit.

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There won't be a number by October or November, whenever it is.

The Brexit Secretary added any transition period should be concluded by the date of the next British national election, due by May 2022.

However he added it was likely to last for about two years.

Mr Davis said: It's got to be done by the election. I would say the most likely is something like two years, maybe a bit shorter.

We're going to talk it through very, very carefully, so at this stage we're not going to commit [to a brexit bill deadline]

Brexit secretary David Davis

However Brussels chief negotiator Michel Barnier insisted talks on future relations between the European Union and Britain, including a free trade agreement, cannot begin until it has been decided that sufficient progress has been made on separation issues such as the exit bill.

EU leaders are due to make that assessment at a summit in October and Mr Davis said Britain would meet any real international obligations.

However Mr Davis failed to give a definitive answer about whether the European Court of Justice be the arbiter during for an interim customs deal but said Britain would next week set out its proposals on post-Brexit international arbitration.

Todays comments come after Mr Davis also refused to rule out making payments to Brussels for temporary customs arrangements after leaving the EU.

EPA

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David Davis and Michel Barnier give a press conference at the end of a meeting at EU Commission in Brussels

In a series of broadcast interviews, Mr Davis suggested the temporary arrangements could allow Britain to negotiate trade deals with other countries for when it leaves, as current rules bar members of the EU customs union from making their own deals outside the bloc.

Pressed on whether the UK would have to pay, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I am not going to do the negotiation on air.

What we are not going to do, let's be clear, we are not going to continue the 10billion a year net contributions we currently have."

PA

Asked if money could be a part of the negotiations, he said: "I didn't say that. Wait and see."

Mr Davis also told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "We sell them, the Europeans, about 230 billion euros of goods and services a year.

"They sell us 290 billion euros. So there are a lot of things there."

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'No Brexit bill!' David Davis refuses to bow down to EU deadline on divorce settlement - Express.co.uk

All poultry eggs in Hong Kong imported from European Union countries are to be held for inspection, the citys food watchdog announced on Monday evening.

Effective immediately, the decision by the Centre for Food Safety is the latest precaution taken locally since eggs from Dutch farms were found earlier this month to contain unsafe levels of an insecticide. The scandal spread as tainted eggs were found in 15 EU states and Switzerland as well as Hong Kong.

A centre spokesman said it had been closely monitoring the matter. Last week, eggs imported to the city from the Netherlands were found to exceed the local legal limit for Fipronil, a highly toxic pest control chemical banned from the production of food.

The centre will hold poultry eggs from EU countries for testing as soon as they are imported, and they will only be released to the market for sale if test results prove satisfactory, the spokesman said.

Inspection had already been tightened for poultry eggs imported from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. The spokesman called the latest move prudent.

Other than the unsatisfactory Dutch eggs it identified and announced earlier, the centre has not found any additional bad samples.

All the recalled Dutch eggs in the city were to be sent to landfill for disposal under the supervision of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

Poultry eggs from the EU account for less than two per cent of all poultry eggs imported to the city.

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All European Union eggs to be inspected, Hong Kong food ... - South China Morning Post

Britain on Tuesday gave its most detailed indication yet of how its future trade with the European Union might work after Brexit, laying out proposals to replace membership in the bloc's customs union with new mechanisms designed to allow "frictionless" trade to continue.

The plans were dismissed as "a fantasy" by one senior EU official. And anti-Brexit campaigners in Britain said they would merely replace EU regulations with new ones that could be even more onerous.

The Department for Exiting the European Union said there could be "a temporary customs union between the U.K. and the EU" to avoid border chaos when Britain officially leaves the bloc in March 2019.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said the transition period could last about two years.

In the long term, the department said, a "customs partnership" could eliminate the need for a border for goods traveling between Britain and the EU. The partnership would see Britain impose the exact same requirements as the EU on goods from outside the bloc destined for member states.

Alternately, it suggested "a highly streamlined customs arrangement" could be set up, using technology to ease border procedures.

The proposals drew a cool response from Brussels.

"To be in & out of the Customs Union & 'invisible borders' is a fantasy," tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator.

Some British businesses have accused the government of being vague about whether there will be economic barriers with the EU after Brexit. The persistent uncertainty 14 months after Britain voted to leave the EU is weighing on the economy.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Treasury chief Philip Hammond wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that in 2019 Britain will leave both the EU's single market in goods and services and its customs union.

The single market ensures tariff-less trade in goods and services and is linked closely by the EU with other rights, such as the right of EU citizens to cross borders. The customs union allows goods to move within the EU without checks, but also imposes tariffs on imports from outside the EU. That would prevent Britain striking new free trade deals while it remains inside the arrangement.

The British proposal says the U.K. should be free to negotiate new trade relationships during the transition period, something EU officials are likely to find problematic.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who favors Britain's staying in the single market and customs union, accused the government on Twitter of having a "daft 'have cake and eat it' approach" to Brexit.

Pro-EU Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna said the proposals "are offering a red tape bombshell for British business."

The customs proposals are the first in a series of papers covering thorny issues in the negotiations, which are due to resume in Brussels at the end of this month. Another, on the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is due to be published this week.

The European Commission said it took note of Britain's suggestions, "but we will only address them once we have made sufficient progress on the terms of the orderly withdrawal" from the bloc.

The EU says negotiations on its future relations with Britain can't start until sufficient progress has been made on three initial issues: how much money the U.K. will have to pay to settle its outstanding commitments to the bloc; whether security checks and customs duties will be instituted on the Irish border; and the status of 3 million EU nationals living in Britain.

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, tweeted that the quicker the two sides "agree on citizens, settling accounts and Ireland, the quicker we can discuss customs & future relationship."

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UK says it may seek 'temporary' customs union with EU - ABC News

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Sharkbanz Shark Deterrent Now Available in the European Union - Surfer Magazine (blog)