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Brussels / London (dpa) - After extensive agreement on key points of a Brexit trade pact, everything points to a deal on Christmas Eve.

The experts on both sides had worked on the details right up to the end.

The work will continue all night, wrote the EU Commission spokesman, Eric Mamer, on Twitter on Wednesday evening.

A press conference is planned for early Thursday morning, the BBC reported.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson informed his key ministers about the current situation that night, the PA agency reported.

The comprehensive trade agreement is designed to avoid a severe economic break at the last minute.

The Brexit transition phase will end on December 31, and Great Britain will leave the EU internal market and the customs union.

Without an agreement, there is a risk of tariffs and trade barriers.

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In the end, the biggest points of contention were the EU demand for fair competition between the contracting parties - an agreement in principle was announced on Wednesday afternoon - and the access rights for EU fishermen to British waters.

The contract was almost ready, it said early Thursday morning from EU circles.

"The signs are good," said Ireland's Prime Minister Micheál Martin in the evening on Irish television.

After a lot of work and time had been put into the key topic of fisheries, "there seems to be a feeling today that something is coming to a close".

The Brexit transition phase ends on December 31.

With an agreement, a hard economic break at the end of the year could be avoided at the last moment.

However, an agreement could no longer be ratified in time.

It would have to be applied provisionally if the EU states agree.

The British Parliament, however, should approve it before the end of the year.

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With the end of the transition period on December 31, Great Britain will leave the internal market and the customs union.

Without an affiliation agreement, there would be a threat of tariffs and trade barriers as well as stricter goods controls at the borders.

Thousands of trucks are already jammed on the British side on the way to the continent because France had temporarily sealed off the border due to the mutated corona virus - from the point of view of critics a foretaste of the situation in a no-deal Brexit.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201224-99-803678 / 2

Tweet from Eric Mamer on December 24th, 2020