Brexit deal cleared by EU Parliament; UK set to leave Friday

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MEP’s embrace after a vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the final legislative step in the Brexit proceedings, during the plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

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European Parliament President David Sassoli, center, stands with other British MEP’s and members of the political group Socialist and Democrats as they participate in a ceremony prior to the vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a media conference at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. It then enters an 11-month transition period in which Britain will continue to follow the bloc’s rules while the two sides work out new deals on trade, security and other areas. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

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British MEP’s hold up scarves during a ceremony prior to the vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the final legislative step in the Brexit proceedings, at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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French junior minister for European Affairs Amelie de Montchalin , center, speaks while her German counterpart Michael Roth, left, and her Polish counterpart Konrad Szymanski as they visit a former coal mine after a meeting of the Weimar Triangle at European Affairs level, in Loos-en-Gohelle, northern France, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

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French President Emmanuel Macron speaks speaks during a joint press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday Jan. 29, 2020. (Benoit Tessier/Pool via AP)

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Scottish European Parliament member Aileen McLeod, right, hugs British European Parliament member Richard Corbett at the end of an European Parliament’s constitutional affairs committee meeting for Brexit at the European Parliament in Brussels, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. Hours after the deal received royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II, an influential European Parliament’s committee endorsed the withdrawal agreement, paving the way for Britain to leave the 28-country bloc next week. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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MEP’s wear banners and react after a vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the final legislative step in the Brexit proceedings, during the plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)

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MEP’s hold hands and banners after a vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the final legislative step in the Brexit proceedings, during the plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)

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MEP’s sing and hold hands after a vote on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the final legislative step in the Brexit proceedings, during the plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, the first nation in the bloc to do so. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)

By RAF CASERT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union grudgingly let go of the United Kingdom with a final vote Wednesday at the EU’s parliament that ended the Brexit divorce battle and set the scene for tough trade negotiations in the year ahead.

In an emotion-charged session at the session in Brussels, lawmakers from all 28 EU countries expressed their love and sadness, while some, notably from Britain’s Brexit Party, their joy.

Some even cried and many held hands during a mournful rendition of the Auld Lang Syne farewell song that contrasted sharply with hard-headed exhortations that Britain won’t find it easy in the talks that will follow the country’s official departure on Friday.

“We will always love you and we will never be far,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Britain will leave the EU after 47 years of membership. It is the first country to leave the EU and for many in Europe its official departure at 11 p.m. London time on Friday, Jan. 31 is a moment of enormous sadness and reduces the number in the bloc to 27.

With just two days to go until Brexit day, the legislature overwhelmingly approved Britain’s departure terms from the EU — 621 to 49 in favor of the Brexit deal that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the other 27 EU leaders in the fall of last year. The deal’s passage follows last week’s backing by the U.K.'s Parliament.

The parliament’s chief Brexit official, Guy Verhofstadt, said that “this vote is not an adieu,” adding that it is “only an au revoir.”

Though the deal on Britain’s divorce terms has cleared its hurdles, there are still huge uncertainties around the future relationship. After Britain’s departure on Friday, a so-called transition period will begin during which the U.K. will remain within the EU’s economic arrangements until the end of the year though it won’t have a say in policy as it will not be a member of the EU anymore.

“That’s it. It’s all over,” said Nigel Farage, who has campaigned for Brexit for two decades. On departing the scene, the man who arguably did more than anyone else in the country’s decision to vote for Brexit in the June 2016 referndum, waved Britain’s Union Flag.

EU countries are preparing for the possibility that talks on a new trade deal with Britain could collapse by year’s end, and no-deal contingency planning for a chaotic end to the transition period is necessary.

Britain is seeking to thrash out a comprehensive trade deal within 11 months, a timetable viewed as ambitious by many observers of trade discussions, which can often drag on for years.

“We will not yield to any pressure nor any haste,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in Paris. “The priority is to define, in the short, medium and long term the interests of the European Union and to preserve them.”

The EU has said such a timespan is far too short and fears remain that a chaotic exit, averted this week, might still happen at the end of the year if the transition ends without any agreement in place.

Von der Leyen said the precondition to granting the U.K. advantageous entry into its single market of almost half a billion consumers is that “”European and British businesses continue to compete on a level playing field.”

“We will certainly not expose our companies to unfair competition. And it’s very clear the trade-off is simple. The more the United Kingdom does commit to uphold our standards for social protection and worker’s rights, our guarantees for the environment and other standards and rules ensuring fair competition, the closer and better the access to the single market.”

Sticking to EU standards however is anathema to the Brexiteers who wanted to be free from any constraints imposed by Brussels.

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Follow AP’s full coverage of Brexit and British politics at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit