Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission, and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, officially signed an agreement on Wednesday morning on terms for future bilateral trade relations between the European Union and the United Kingdom.
A copy of the agreement will then be flown to London by RAF aircraft and signed by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Prime Minister’s Office in Downing Street.
Photo: Getty Images
Last Thursday, a 1246-page agreement on the terms of the future bilateral relationship, including 800 pages of annexes and margins, was agreed upon by negotiating delegations from the British government and the European Commission. The interim implementation of the agreement will enter into force on the first day of the new year.
Provisional implementation of the agreement has become necessary because even the European Parliament must approve it, which will only be possible next year, expected at the end of February. The temporary implementation would allow the parties to prevent the dire consequences of the end of the transition period until January 1, which also pose risks to citizens and businesses.
The agreement signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union has shown unprecedented unity.
Charles Michel said.
Charles Michel said after signing the document, it is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects core values and creates stability and predictability for citizens and businesses.
He added that the European Union is ready to work side by side with the UK on important issues such as climate change, epidemic management and foreign policy.
The UK withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020. On the day of his departure, a transition period began until December 31, with the aim of allowing time to agree on the terms of the bilateral system, in particular the free trade agreement.
Failure to comply with the agreement meant that trade between the UK and the EU would continue from January 1, that is, from next Friday, under the general rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which would have necessitated the introduction of tariffs into trade.
