European Parliament approves post-Brexit trade deal, marking the ‘final step in a long journey’
The European Parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly ratified the EU’s post-Brexit trade deal with Britain. After nine months of tough negotiations, the vote approved the bare-bones trade deal with the bloc’s third-biggest trading partner, sealed on Christmas Eve.
The agreement provides the framework for London’s new relationship with the 27-member union five years after British voters shocked the world by voting to end its 47-year membership.
In the final tally, 660 MEPs voted in favor of the trade deal, five against 32 abstentions, results released Wednesday showed. “The European Parliament voted on the most far-reaching agreement the EU has ever reached with a third country,” the president of the assembly, David Sassoli, said.
“This can form the foundation on which we build a new forward-looking EU-UK relationship,” he said, warning that MEPs would monitor the implementation of the deal and “not accept any backsliding from the UK government.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the “final step in a long journey” that brought “stability to our new relationship with the EU as vital trading partners, close allies and sovereign equals.”
“Now is the time to look forward to the future and build a more global Britain,” he added.
The vote comes amid multiple feuds over the UK’s implementation of Brexit agreements and angry finger-pointing about the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca.
Deepening tensions further, France has threatened to block UK financial firms from doing business in the EU if Britain does not respect its commitments on fishing, a vital part of the deal.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen “warmly welcomed” the green light but, in a final debate in parliament on Tuesday, assured MEPs that the agreement had “real teeth” and had ways to keep the UK in check.
“Let me be obvious: We do not want to use these tools, but we will not hesitate to use them if necessary.” Britain’s Brexit minister David Frost said he “hugely” welcomed the vote to approve the deal he helped negotiate during months of fraught talks with EU counterpart Michel Barnier.
“Hope we can now begin a new chapter together as Europeans, characterized by friendly cooperation between sovereign equals,” Frost wrote on Twitter.
The vote ends five years of a Brexit saga in which Britain and Europe also sealed a divorce deal that bitterly divided the UK and saw the future of peace on the island of Ireland thrust into doubt.
A recent wave of rioting in the British province of Northern Ireland has been blamed on the consequences of Brexit arrangements, with talks underway in Brussels and London to find long-term solutions.
Britain left the EU on January 30, 2020, but its new life with Europe only began after a transition ended on December 31, when the bloc’s laws and rules no longer bound London.
