Ticking… While Brexit must take place officially in nine days, British deputies have definitively validated the agreement to leave the European Union of Boris Johnson on Wednesday.
The text, which regulates the terms of the divorce, and negotiated by Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Brussels, is yet to be promulgated by Queen Elizabeth II, possibly as early as Thursday, to have the force of law.
Amendments voted and then abandoned
The House of Commons, where the leader has an overwhelming majority since the legislative elections in December, had already given the green light in early January to the bill on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU, scheduled for January 31 at 23 hours.
The text was then transmitted to the unelected House of Lords, which adopted five amendments, inflicting as many setbacks to the government, concerning in particular the rights of European citizens residing in the United Kingdom or unaccompanied refugee children.
But these changes were disavowed by MPs when the bill returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday, and the upper house bowed when the text was submitted to it a second time in the afternoon. After its final adoption in the United Kingdom, the Brexit agreement will have to be ratified by the European Parliament, probably on January 29.
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