European Union Governments Agree to Trade Agreement With Britain

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that European Union governments agreed Tuesday to the trade agreement that regulates relations between Britain and the 27-nation bloc, which paves the way for its temporary implementation from January 1.

The agreement, which maintains no customs duties or quotas for Britain, to the European Union’s single market, which has 450 million consumers, was reached on December 24, after four and a half years after the British agreed by a slim majority in a referendum to leave the bloc.

“I am pleased that all EU 27 have given approval. By joining forces, we have succeeded in preventing a chaotic turn of the year,” said Maas, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said on Twitter.

The approval of EU governments is a formality, but necessary for the temporary implementation of the trade pact starting next year, before the European Parliament ratifies it by the end of February.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel are due to sign the interim trade agreement on Wednesday.