BRUSSELS: EU leaders signed their post-Brexit trade deal with Britain and dispatched it to London on an RAF jet on Wednesday, setting their seal on a drawn-out divorce just hours before the UK brings its half-century European experiment to an end.
EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the heads of the European Commission and European Council, smiled at a brief televised ceremony to put their names to the 1,246-page Trade and Cooperation Agreement.
“It has been a long road. It’s time now to put Brexit behind us. Our future is made in Europe,” von der Leyen said
Britain will leave the European single market and customs union at 11 pm on Thursday, the end of a difficult year and of a post-Brexit transition period marked by intense and tortuous trade negotiations.
But first, the hefty document, bound in blue leather, will be flown by the Royal Air Force to London for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to add his signature, and the UK parliament will embark on a rushed debate to clear the decks before the looming deadline.
According to Downing Street, Johnson will tell MPs that the agreement heralds “a new relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals, joined by friendship, commerce, history, interests and values”.
In Brussels, Michel agreed, saying: “On major issues, the European Union stands ready to work shoulder to shoulder with the United Kingdom.
“This will be the case on climate change, ahead of the COP 26 in Glasgow, and on the global response to pandemics, in particular with a possible treaty on pandemics.” — AFP
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