EU President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have signed the treaty on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union in Brussels. It is the first time in the Union's more than seventy-year history that a country has left.
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier was also present at the brief ceremony. The Frenchman will also lead negotiations on a new trade and customs agreement, which must be concluded this year.
The European-British withdrawal agreement will still be signed and returned by the British government in London. On Wednesday, the European Parliament’s plenary session is expected to approve it. Yesterday, the legal committee already voted in favor, albeit “disappointed,” according to a Member of the European Parliament.
Finally, the 27 EU governments must also ratify the withdrawal agreement, but that is a written, administrative procedure. Once done, the way is clear for the British to sever administrative, financial, legal, economic, and political ties with the European Union.
Although negotiations on new import and export duties, customs rules, taxes, and cross-border business transactions have yet to start, major disagreements are already looming. The British government wants to establish its own trade agreement with the United States as soon as possible, regardless of the trade deals EU countries already have with the US. Brussels has warned London that it will not accept any “American effects” in a European-British trade agreement to be drafted.
There will be no grand farewell for Great Britain at the European Union in Brussels next week. The anti-European Brexit party had requested a solemn lowering of the British flag at the EU offices to signify that the British no longer belong to the Union.
However, on Wednesday, the European Parliament will hold several farewell gatherings for the dozens of British MEPs who will have to relinquish their seats as of February 1. Several of them, disappointed, will not even attend their final plenary session this week.
The European Commission will also informally and modestly bid farewell to British (Trade) Commissioner Phil Hogan. Starting next week, the European Commission will consist of 27 Commissioners instead of 28.
The anti-European British Brexiteers will celebrate their departure from the EU next Friday evening with a large demonstration at the square by the parliament in London, including waving flags and fireworks. Prime Minister Johnson will give a speech “somewhere in the north of England.”