OREANDA-NEWS. The European Parliament (EP) has approved the Brexit trade agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom. As a result, the last obstacle to the full ratification of the treaty between the parties on trade and cooperation after the British withdrawal from the EU has been removed. In support of the trade agreement, 660 deputies voted, five were against and 32 abstained, the European Parliament said on Wednesday, April 28. The online voting took place on Tuesday, but the results have only now been announced.

The positive outcome of the vote in the EP ended more than four years of intense negotiations and debates over the UK's decision to leave the European Union after 47 years in the organization.

«The first trade agreement in history that erects barriers and abolishes freedoms? A failure for both sides, but better than nothing. I still believe that one day an ambitious young politician will want to bring Britain back to the European Union!», – wrote former Prime Minister of Belgium Guy Verhofstadt in his microblog on Twitter.