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EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel will sign the trade deal with Britain on Wednesday.
European Union governments have approved a trade deal regulating relations between the 27-nation bloc and the UK, paving the way for its provisional application from January 1, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said .
“I am happy that the whole of the EU27 has given its approval. By joining forces we have managed to prevent a chaotic turn of the year, ”Maas, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, posted on Twitter on Tuesday.
The approval – a formality now after a deal between London and the EU last week – was needed for the provisional application of next year’s trade deal, before it was ratified by the European Parliament d ‘by the end of February.
The deal, which preserves Britain’s zero-tariff, quota-free access to the EU’s single market of 450 million consumers, was reached more than four years after the British voted by a narrow margin in a referendum to leave the bloc.
EU leaders will sign on Wednesday
The provisional trade deal is due to be signed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of European leaders Charles Michel on Wednesday morning, officials said.
After that, the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement is expected to move to London, where UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will put his signature.
European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said on Twitter that the signing would be an “important moment”.
In a statement, the Commission said the deal would only be implemented on a provisional basis as the European Parliament did not have time to vote on it.
But, with the UK parliament due to ratify the text later on Wednesday, that should be enough to allay the threat of a no-deal divorce on January 1.
British Brexit extremists agree to back deal
On a related note, a staunchly pro-Brexit group of lawmakers from Johnson’s Tories will back his UK-EU trade deal in parliament on Wednesday after deciding the deal preserves UK sovereignty .
The European Research Group, which sees threats to British sovereignty due to close ties with the European Union, said it was satisfied with the deal.
“Our overall conclusion is that the agreement preserves the sovereignty of the United Kingdom as a matter of law and fully respects the standards of sovereign international treaties,” said the group’s legal advisory committee.
“Level playing field clauses go further than in comparable trade agreements, but their impact on the practical exercise of sovereignty will likely be limited if a strong government is dealt with.”
He added that equal opportunities did not prevent Britain from changing its laws as it saw fit, at the risk of tariff countermeasures. If these were unacceptable, the agreement could be terminated with 12 months notice.
British MPs will vote on the deal on Wednesday, less than 48 hours before the transitional agreements between Britain and the EU expire.
The opposition Labor Party has said it will back the deal, which will make it almost certain to pass into law, regardless of the backing of conservative ERG lawmakers.
The ERG has long been a thorn in the side of Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, and – aided by a Labor Party focused on overthrowing its minority government – had blocked efforts to preserve closer economic ties with the EU.
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