Brexit

Turkey on Dec. 25 welcomed the last-minute post-Brexit trade deal between the U.K. and EU.

"Turkey welcomes the deal reached in the negotiations on the future of post-Brexit relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union," said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.

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.

The United Kingdom and European Union have reached a post-Brexit trade agreement after months of fraught negotiations, the British government said in a statement Thursday. The breakthrough averts a much-feared "no-deal" scenario that would have sparked economic chaos and risked major disruption to the flow of goods and medicines.

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."

Miles of lorry queues and travel chaos were expected across southeastern part of UK on Monday after France announced a 48-hour ban on passengers and freight entering from the UK.

European stocks tumbled as a new strain of the coronavirus in the U.K. caused chaos ahead of the Christmas holiday, with regional neighbors suspending travel with the nation following another missed deadline in Brexit talks.

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.