Travel_Motion | E + | Getty Images
LONDON – The 27 ambassadors of EU member states on Monday approved the Brexit trade agreement with the UK last week, the latest obstacle to an agreement to be implemented on 1 January.
The ambassadors worked until the Christmas holidays and approved a provisional request on Monday morning. The EU Parliament, the only directly elected chamber in the EU, does not expect to vote on it until January and has refused to ratify it in a short time. Instead, the interim application will allow it to take effect on New Year’s Day on Friday.
EU governments have until 14:00, London time, to send their approval in writing, but this is also a formality, as EU leaders have already welcomed the agreement.
The British government will vote on the trade agreement on Wednesday, and the country will leave its transition period with the EU at 23:00 local time, on New Year’s Eve.
The 1,246-page document, details of which are published on the British government’s website, and last-minute crowded negotiations have left little time for proper early control.
Britain’s opposition Labor Party is expected to support the deal, despite concerns, but there are likely to be some rebel MPs in the ruling Conservative Party.
The Prime Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, expressed his disapproval of the agreement, and the UK fishing industry gave him a frozen answer, accusing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson of providing only a “fraction of what the UK has the right to international law and what the Government has repeatedly said it will provide on behalf of the UK fishing industry. “
On Christmas Eve, the two sides reached a “zero-rate tariff agreement”, which will help streamline trade in goods across the English Channel. This exempted exporters from both sides who would have faced higher tariffs and costs if no agreement had been reached.
The two sides have been involved in intense talks since March to determine how the trade will work starting in January.
—Silvia Amaro of CNBC contributed to this article.