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- Following the leadership of the EU, the British House of Commons also approved the trade pact with the EU.
- The law will enter into force provisionally at the end of the year. The European Parliament now has to agree.
- Britain left the EU at the end of January. The pact regulates trade relations after the transition period at the end of 2020, during which the EU rules continued to apply.
The House of Lords has yet to vote on the deal on Wednesday and the Queen has to sign the law. Both are a matter of form.
EU leaders signed the Brexit trade pact this morning. After the head of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the EU Council, Charles Michel, signed the document, he was flown to London on a British Air Force plane.
The nearly 1,250-page trade and association agreement regulates economic relations since January 1. This avoids fees and keeps friction losses in retail as low as possible. At the same time, many other issues are regulated, including fisheries and cooperation on energy, transport, justice, police.
The vote in the European Parliament is still pending
However, for the moment, the treaty can only be applied provisionally because there was not enough time for the European Parliament to ratify it before the end of the year; the deal only worked on Christmas Eve and therefore practically last minute.
The European Parliament wants to examine the text carefully. Voting is scheduled for February or March.
