Brexit: EU diplomats briefed on UK trade deal

The European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, met with the 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels on Christmas Day to start reviewing the bloc's trade deal with the UK, a spokesperson for the German EU presidency confirmed.

With the ink on the deal barely dry, the ambassadors will now pore over the details to determine whether their countries can accept the terms and conditions.

"EU member states will now start reviewing the 1,246 pages of the EU-UK agreement and continue with this daunting exercise during the next few days," EU Council presidency spokesman Sebastian Fischer said.

EU nations already showed support for the outcome and it was expected that they would unanimously back the agreement, a prerequisite for its legal approval.

Provisional at first

The agreement needs to be ratified by both the EU and the UK, though it is expected to be passed by both parliaments.

Lawmakers in London will convene on December 30, a day before the post-Brexit transition period set to run out.

But the European Parliament is set to meet early in the new year, making it likely that the accord will only be a provisional one at the outset.

The deal allows for the free flow of goods with zero tariffs and zero quotas, but also sets out different areas of cooperation on topics such as security and justice, as well as a host of rules on data protection.

However, British nationals will lose the right to move easily to the EU to study, work and retire and vice versa.

The UK has also abandoned its participation in the EU student exchange program, Erasmus, as part of its departure from the bloc.

jsi/mm (AFP, dpa)