“The deal is done,” read a statement from Downing Street. “The deal is what the British public promised during the 2016 referendum and last year’s general election.”
After the two sides failed to reach an agreement in areas such as fishing quotas, the U.K. Negotiations had been going on for months in areas such as how the state government would help British businesses to support post-Brexit business and legal oversight of any deal.
Before the Brexit transition ends, the deal is unlikely to be formally ratified, so it still needs to go through a series of legal hoops.
The leaders of the European Union, the European Parliament and the UK government will now all need to approve the agreement on their own.
The legal text of the agreement will be translated, reviewed and approved by the first 27 EU member states.
Once all member nations have revoked their sign, they will return to the European Parliament, where members of the European Parliament (MEP) will vote to ratify the deal.
But the European Parliament has said it is too late to hold an emergency voting session before the transition period ends on December 31.
Instead, they plan to “provisionally” implement the EU-UK agreement with ven formally rebuild ven with MEPs to ratify the deal in the new year.
Meanwhile, there will likely be a vote in the British Parliament to legalize the deal.
Although trade deals do not require parliamentary approval, it is expected that UK legislators will be brought back from their Christmas break for discussion and approval.
It can take up to 48 hours for Parliament to be reconvened, although it can be moved very quickly when needed.
The deal marks a significant milestone in the four-and-a-half years since the UK voted to leave the European Union.
Eurosceptic legislators are already planning efforts to ensure that the deal leaves no room for the UK to return to EU orbit. Pro-Europeans will hope that at some point in the future, the UK, perhaps under new leadership, will strengthen ties with Brussels.
This is a developing story …
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