Last updated 20:30 BST.

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NEWS: Implications of Ukraine’s EU Eastern Partnership Deal.

Channel delays: DFDS Dover-Calais 21:15 and Calais-Dover 23:00 delayed 40mins due to port movements, check-in on time.

Weather alerts: No red or amber alerts so far today.

Weather: Morning fog in much of north/west/central then cold later but dry with sunny spells. Rain north Italy.

Traffic: see @DE_Traffic, from 05:30BST.

See Travel/Traffic/Weather for more.

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UKRAINE. The Eastern Partnership deal, the first step for far East European countries to join the EU (including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia) will – hopefully – be signed at a summit in Vilnius in late November. The deal is still by no means certain – Russia isn’t happy for instance, see DriveEurope 18 September – but already the first steps in transport have been spelled out in a press release from the European Commission today. The first is harmonisation of rules and regulations when – like Serbia, also not yet an full EU member – Ukraine could (we emphasise could) recognise western European driving insurance policies. This would remove a bureaucratic if not expensive procedure at the border. The second – more definite – is an upgrade of the E40/M10/M-06 Krakovits-Lviv-Brody-Rivne road to modern standards. Ultimately that will connect Katowice/Krakow in eastern Poland (and thus Berlin) with Ukraine capital Kiev.

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