BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Parliament on Wednesday is set to overwhelmingly approve the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union — the final major decision in the four-year Brexit saga.
With only two days to spare, the legislators will vote to approve the withdrawal agreement that will end the 47-year membership of Britain. At the same time, the vote will cut the 73 U.K. parliamentarians from the 751-seat legislature where die-hard Brexiteers have been a disruptive force for years while others steadfastly sought to build a more united Europe.
“We’ve achieved our goal,” said British member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage who has campaigned for Brexit for two decades, leaving with a smile and a sense of accomplishment.
Preliminary votes in committees have already shown that the exit should be approved by a massive margin.
For many though, the first departure of an EU member after the group had grown from an initial six to 28 remains a body blow.
”It’s an incredible sad and painful moment,” S&D socialist Tiemo Woelken said. “We’ll wait for your return to our European family.”
In a solemn moment, European Parliament President David Sassoli will thank the U.K. members for their cooperation from inside the EU. There still is a final session the British legislators can attend on Thursday, but then they have to vacate their offices.
Now, everything moves to negotiations on how to cooperate in the future. Britain seeks to have a full trade deal within the next 11 months and want a transitional period during which they will still abide by EU rules and regulations to be as short as possible.
The EU has said such a timespan is far too short to have any kind of comprehensive deal and fears remain that a chaotic exit, averted this week, might still happen at the end of the year if the transition ends without any agreement in place.
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