European Parliament overwhelmingly gives green light to post-Brexit deal

The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, on April 27, 2021 in Brussels, DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

The European Parliament on Wednesday gave its consent for the ratification of the trade and cooperation agreement reached by the European Union and the United Kingdom on December 24, which entered into force provisionally on January 1 of this year.

The green light by an overwhelming majority (660 votes in favor, 5 against and 32 abstentions) ends almost five years of diplomatic and legislative work, which began after the 2016 referendum in the United Kingdom that approved Brexit.

The pact is ready to enter into force definitively in the coming days.

"The EU will continue to work constructively with the UK as an important friend and partner," said European Council President Charles Michel.

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London has also welcomed the deal: “We greatly welcome the overwhelming vote of the European Parliament on our trade deal with the EU. I hope that we can now start a new chapter together as Europeans, characterized by friendly cooperation between equal sovereigns. Thanks to the European Commission and [the EU negotiator] Michel Barnier for helping us get here, ”said British negotiator David Frost on Twitter. The vote of the European Parliament comes after four months of scrutiny by MEPs of an agreement that negotiators in London and Brussels managed to close on the afternoon of Christmas Eve 2020 after almost a year of intense talks between both teams, in the midst of a pandemic. MEPs have used these four months,with the pact applied provisionally to avoid the exit scenario without an agreement, to scrutinize paragraph by paragraph a treaty that defines the relationship between the two after Brexit and marks an important step back in the quality of that bond after almost half a century of belonging from the UK to the EU.

Yesterday, the debate prior to the vote (more than four and a half hours) and the very long list of speakers (one of the most numerous in recent years) fitted in with the historic moment involved in authorizing the ratification of the first trade agreement with an old EU partner. Before the debate, almost all the MEPs present in the hemicycle gave Barnier a farewell applause.

The favorable vote, however, does not hide the distrust of Brussels towards the Government of Boris Johnson, especially in relation to the protocol of the agreement on the coexistence between Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland. During the debate prior to the vote on Tuesday, many MEPs called on the European Commission to be extremely vigilant to ensure that London complies with the agreement and prevent Northern Ireland from becoming an entry hole for products into the European internal market.