EU leaders approve Brexit deal

Brussels [Belgium], Nov 25 (ANI): The leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union (EU) on Sunday endorsed the United Kingdom's withdrawal agreement from the bloc.
The approval of the deal came after European Council president Donald Tusk broke the news and took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations."
The EU leaders gave consensus to the pact at a special summit held in Brussels, the seat of the EU, after negotiations which lasted nearly an hour, CNN reported.
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who prepared the Brexit deal, had shown complete support for the draft agreement and reiterated time and again that the pact serves UK's national interest.
With the EU leaders' endorsement of the deal, the Brexit agreement is now slated to go to the UK Parliament for a vote next month, where many opposition MPs, including those from May's Conservative Party, are expected to vote against the deal, owing to various disagreements.
On November 21, the Brexit deal suffered a setback after Spain threatened to veto the agreement over the handling of Gibraltar, a British territory on the Iberian Peninsula.
The Spanish government had objected to part of the deal that covers future trade and security relations between the UK and the EU, insisting that arrangements related to Gibraltar should be discussed separately. However, the problems were resolved following last-minute negotiations by Spain and the UK on Saturday.
In 2016, over 50 per cent of the UK electorate voted to leave the EU, following which the British government had triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, beginning the country's process of its exit from the European bloc.
According to the draft deal, the UK is scheduled to leave the bloc on March 29, 2019, after which it will move into a 21-month long transitionary period (post-Brexit transition). (ANI)