European Union leaders will meet November 25 to finalize the draft Brexit agreement struck by EU and U.K. negotiators, European Council President Donald Tusk said Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference alongside the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, Tusk said the draft deal, agreed Wednesday, is currently being analyzed by all EU countries, with EU27 ambassadors due to meet by the end of the week to discuss it.
“If I weren’t confident that you did your best to protect the interests of the 27, and I am familiar with the essence of the document, I would not propose to formalize this deal,” Tusk told the EU’s chief negotiator.
Barnier, for his part, noted: “Our work is not finished. We still have a long road, a long road, ahead of us on both sides.” The EU’s negotiator said he would now work with EU countries and the European Parliament on the text of the political declaration on the future relationship with the U.K., adding: “This work will be intense.”
Tusk said EU27 ambassadors, along with European ministers, would by the end of this week discuss the mandate for the European Commission to finalize the joint political declaration about the future relations between the EU and the U.K., with the Commission intending to agree on the declaration by Tuesday.
“If nothing extraordinary happens,” Tusk said, a European Council meeting to finalize and formalize the Brexit agreement will take place on Sunday, November 25 at 9:30 a.m.
Tusk finished with a message to Britain: “As much as I am sad to see you leave, I will do everything to make this farewell the least painful possible, both for you and for us.”