The EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement was signed this morning (Wednesday, December 30) in Brussels on behalf of the EU.

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen put pen to paper earlier today. The agreement document will now be brought to London were UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sign it.

“The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the EU has displayed an unprecedented level of unity. It is fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the fundamental interests of the EU and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies,” said President Michel.

The agreement will be provisionally applied from January 1. The reason for the provisional application of the deal is that there is not enough time before the end of the year for the agreement to be fully scutinised by the European Parliament, at which point (assuming the parliament approves it) it will be formally ratified.

“On major issues, the EU stands ready to work shoulder to shoulder with the UK. This will be the case on climate change…and on the global response to pandemics, in particular with a possible treaty on pandemics,” President Michel added.

“These are major issues that will have to be discussed on a regular basis, like we do with our strategic partners, and I am looking forward to such a cooperation,” the European Council president concluded.

The signing of the agreement follows the Council of the European Union formally agreeing yesterday to provisionally sign-off on the EU-UK free trade agreement, pending its ratification by the European Parliament early next year.

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