Brexit deal: better late than never

"We are relieved to know that the EU and the UK have finally managed to agree in principle on our future trade relationship. The draft agreement comes very late, but better late than never. We congratulate and honour Michel Barnier and his team for his commitment and dedication in this historic process. We are about to close this neverending saga, but we aren’t there yet. Now, Parliament can finally get to work to scrutinise the provisional agreement", declared Manfred Weber MEP, EPP Group Chairman, following the announcement by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the provisional agreement on the future relationship between the EU and the UK after Brexit.

MEPs criticised the provisional application of the deal: "We deeply regret that the negotiations were stretched so late into the year that provisional application was the only way to avoid a cliff edge at the end of the transition period. This is not the legal security that businesses need and deserve after years of Brexit negotiations. The European Parliament will now take its time to scrutinise the deal properly and deliver its verdict in the New Year. This procedure shall not be seen as a precedent for future trade agreements", said Christophe Hansen MEP, the European Parliament's negotiator in the European Parliament's Trade Committee.