The vote was held on Tuesday, but the result of which was announced only this morning, at the opening of the third day of the plenary session taking place in Brussels - as the process of counting votes at a distance is slower - the agreement was approved with 660 votes in favour, five against and 32 abstentions, thus ending the long process of divorce between the EU and London.

The post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement negotiated between the UK and the EU was concluded on 24 December 2020 and began to be applied provisionally on 1 January, with a deadline for its ratification until next Friday.