London: After nearly 10 months of lengthy negotiations, EU ambassadors formally began the process of approving a post-Brexit free trade deal with the UK, DW reported on Monday.
The envoys gave unanimous approval to the agreement at a meeting in Brussels. It means the deal can provisionally go into effect after the UK leaves the single market on January 1 and avoid disruption to cross-Channel trade.
"We are happy and relieved that we got a deal," one EU diplomat present at the meeting told DW. "But the timeframes to implement this are tight."
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announced that the talks had reached a successful conclusion the previous day.
EU governments held cabinet meetings earlier on Monday to agree their final position on the text ahead of the meeting.
Germany's cabinet gave their approval after Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Thursday that she was "very confident that we have a good result."
France had threatened to veto the deal if it felt its fishing industry had been short-changed, but a source close to President Emmanuel Macron told DW that the government felt it "protects our fundamental interests." French fishermen have also welcomed the deal, having threatened to blockade the port of Calais in the event of a no deal Brexit that would have locked them out completely from UK seas.
"Everybody will lose out a bit," Olivier Leprete, the chairman of the influential regional fisheries committee in northern France, which represents local fishermen, told DW.
"The point is that European trawlers fan can still go into British waters, if it means that they fish a bit less," he said.
The agreement will be applied on a provisional basis until the European Parliament votes on it next year.
At a private meeting between Michel Barnier and MEPs on Monday, senior parliamentarians suggested February 23 as a possible date. Barring an unexpected use of the European Parliament's veto, the tentative agreement secures the UK's orderly departure from the EU's single market and customs area on December 31, avoiding a chaotic no deal Brexit.