EU leaders endorse Brexit agreement with UK

European Union leaders of the 27 states staying on together after Britain leaves the bloc on Sunday endorsed their Brexit deal with London, chairman Donald Tusk said.

“EU27 has endorsed the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relations,” Tusk said after less than an hour of the leaders’ summit.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite also said after the session: “Brexit deal endorsed, but exit process far from over.”

The 27 leaders adopted an official statement in which they also committed “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.”

The statement also promised “as close as possible a partnership with the United Kingdom” after Britain leaves on March 29, 2019, and thanked Michel Barnier, the bloc’s Brexit negotiator. They urged the UK parliament to back the deal as well.

European Union leaders on Sunday gathered to seal an agreement on the United Kingdom’s departure from the bloc next year, the first time a member country will have left the 28-nation bloc.

Ahead of the meeting, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier called on all sides to “take their responsibility” for delivering on the divorce deal.

The EU negotiators have held complex and difficult negotiations with Britain to ensure an orderly departure, he said, adding: “Now it’s time for everybody to take their responsibility.”

He described the deal as a “necessary step” to build trust between Britain and the EU in order to negotiate an ambitious future relationship.

“We will remain allies, partners and friends,” Barnier added.

The 585-page withdrawal agreement has drawn fierce criticism from eurosceptics as well as pro-EU politicians in the U.K., where it looks likely to fail in an initial vote in parliament slated for mid-December.

In particular, Brexit supporters dislike the so-called backstop aimed at preventing the re-emergence of a hard border on the island of Ireland after Northern Ireland leaves the EU along with Britain.

The backstop, which would only apply in the absence of a better solution, foresees some divergent regulatory standards for Northern Ireland and Britain, which critics argue would divide the United Kingdom.

It would also place Britain and the EU in a joint customs territory that London would not be able to unilaterally leave.