Withdrawal from the European Union

Britain clinched a narrow Brexit trade deal with the European Union on Thursday, just seven days before it exits one of the world's biggest trading blocs in its most significant global shift since the loss of empire.

Political leaders in Europe on Dec. 24 hailed the belated sealing of a U.K.-EU post-Brexit deal that aims to lay the groundwork for long-term future cooperation.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson lauded what he termed "a good deal for the whole of Europe," which offers "a new stability and a new certainty" to relations.

A hard Brexit was avoided

Britain and the European Union have struck a provisional free-trade agreement that should avert New Year chaos for cross-border traders and bring a measure of certainty for businesses after years of Brexit turmoil.

With just over a week until the U.K.'s final split from the EU, the U.K. government said the "deal is done."

Britain has not yet installed all the complex IT systems and port infrastructure needed to ensure Brexit runs smoothly, a group of British MPs warned in a report released on Dec. 19.  

The Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union, a cross-party group of lawmakers, released the report after meeting Thursday online.

In a speech to the European Parliament on Friday,  European Union's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier gave a stark assessment of the ultimatum the EU is giving to the British: access to the EU's single market will be conditional on keeping British fishing waters open to boats from the bloc.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Dec. 10 vowed to go the "extra mile" for a Brexit trade deal but instructed his government to prepare for Britain to crash out of the European Union's single market at the end of this year.

The long-awaited meeting will take place "in the coming days", the leaders said after a telephone conversation that lasted more than an hour on Monday, December 7. That conversation followed after a tense morning in Brussels, Jutarnji list writes.

Award-winning crime novelist David Young is leading a last-ditch campaign by British second-home and boat owners calling on the government to allow the former European Union citizens to spend up to six months in Greece at any one time.

Orban, who believes in the power of narratives, said the debate is not really about the rule of law, but about the rule of the majority. "There are a number of issues where we have a dispute with the other EU countries, like on migration and gender, and this would mean they could force their interpretation on us in all these questions.