Britain's departure from the European Union has been backed by European lawmakers, after a debate that mixed warm words of love with hard-headed warnings to the country not to seek too many concessions during upcoming trade talks on a future relationship.
The European Parliament overwhelmingly approved Britain's departure terms from the EU — the final major decision in the four-year Brexit saga. The vote Wednesday was 621 to 49 in favor of the Brexit deal that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the other 27 EU leaders in the fall of last year.
Britain will officially depart from the EU on Friday, Jan. 31. The U.K. will remain within the EU's economic arrangements through the end of the year, but it won't have any say in policy. The country has been a member of the EU for 47 years, and is the first to leave.
“We will always love you and you will never be far,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Many legislators were moved to tears.
Negotiations on how the country and the EU will cooperate and trade must now take place. Britain wants a comprehensive trade deal by the end of the year, in 11 months. Many, including French President Emmanuel Macron, fear the timeline is too rushed.
“We will not yield to any pressure,” French President Emmanuel Macron said. “The priority is to define, in the short, medium and long term the interests of the European Union and to preserve them.”
“The urgency of the 11 months of the calendar should in no way lead us to rush, to accept compromises that would hurt our interests,” Macron’s Europe minister, Amelie de Monchalin added. “A trade accord is an agreement that lasts for several decades and we should ensure that we always put fundamental issues of content before calendar issues.”