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President of the European Council (EC), Donald Tusk, has said the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) will remain friends, following endorsement of the Brexit deal by EC.
TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Tusk stated this in his remarks after the special meeting of the EC that endorsed the deal on Sunday.
The EC President, however, noted that the process of ratification as well as further negotiations for the Brexit deal might be difficult.
“Ahead of us is the difficult process of ratification as well as further negotiations,” he said, adding: “But regardless of how it will all end, one thing is certain: we will remain friends until the end of days, and one day longer”.
Meanwhile, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, while speaking on Marr on Sunday morning, had called the Brexit deal dodo.
“The problem is, the deal’s a dodo,” Blair stated, while stressing that he has respect for Prime Minister Theresa May.
“The central question here is if it’s not a deal which satisfies the people who voted Brexit, why on earth are we doing it?
“The only way you’re going to unite the country is to take it back to the people. The Prime Minister’s deal has only succeeded in uniting people in opposition to it,” he further stated.
In an article, Blair had earlier said the departure of Britain from the European Union (EU) will diminish the weight of Europe.
“Since the referendum, we have had 2 and a half years of negotiation and discovered there are many varieties of Brexit.
“The choice is between a painful Brexit and a pointless Brexit – that’s the issue we’ve had the whole way through. This isn’t what the people who voted to Leave voted for,” he said.
The EC endorsed the agreement on the withdrawal of the UK and Northern Ireland from the EU and the European Atomic Energy Community, following the special meeting that finalized and formalized the outcome of the Brexit negotiations in Brussels on Sunday.
Twenty-seven EU leaders approved the two key Brexit documents: the EU Withdrawal Agreement and the Political Declaration.
The Withdrawal Agreement ensures that the rights of citizens are fully protected, and the peace process in Northern Ireland is not affected, and that the UK will continue its payments to the EU budget during the transition period and legal certainty will be secured.
The Political Declaration sets the direction as regards future relations.
EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations.
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 25, 2018
On this basis, the EC has invited the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council to take the necessary steps to ensure that the agreement can enter into force on 30 March 2019, so as to provide for an orderly withdrawal.
TNG reports the EC approved the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Council restates the Union’s determination to have as close as possible a partnership with the United Kingdom in the future in line with the Political Declaration.
“The Union’s approach will continue to be defined by the overall positions and principles set out in the previously agreed European Council’s guidelines. The European Council will remain permanently seized of the matter,” the EC said in a statement.
Ahead of us is the difficult process of ratification as well as further negotiations. But regardless of how it will end, one thing is certain: we will remain friends until the end of days, and one day longer. #Brexit
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) November 25, 2018
The Council thanks Michel Barnier for his tireless efforts as the Union’s chief negotiator and for his contribution to maintaining the unity among EU27 Member States throughout the negotiations on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.