English
New Delhi: A few days after fixing the agreement with UK, EU chiefs such as Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel will sign the post-Brexit trade deal on Wednesday at 9:30 AM (08:30 GMT). After that the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement is expected to be taken to London, where UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will add his signature to the deal.
European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said in a tweet that the signature would be an “important moment”. Issuing a statement, the Commission said the deal would be implemented on only a provisional basis, as there has not been time for the EU parliament to vote on it.
Both UK and EU leaders hope the deal, a hard-fought compromise after ten months of intense negotiations, will form a stable basis to build a new, looser partnership.
On December 24, the UK and the European Union have struck a provisional free-trade agreement that should avert New Year’s chaos for cross-border commerce and bring a measure of certainty to businesses after years of Brexit turmoil. The breakthrough came Thursday with just over a week to go until the UK’s split is completed.
Now comes the race to approve and ratify the deal before the UK leaves the EU’s economic structures at the end of the year. The British and European parliaments both must hold votes on the agreement.
Months of tense and often testy negotiations gradually whittled differences between the two sides down to three key issues: fair-competition rules, mechanisms for resolving future disputes and fishing rights. The rights of EU boats to trawl in British waters remained the last obstacle before it was resolved.
However, key aspects of the future relationship between the 27-nation bloc and its former member remain unresolved.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had insisted the UK would “prosper mightily” even if no deal were reached and the UK had to trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms. But his government has acknowledged that a chaotic exit was likely to bring gridlock at Britain’s ports, temporary shortages of some goods and price increases for staple foods.
