Members of the European Union (EU) were set to approve by year-end provisions of the trade deal that was struck by both parties at the last minute.

European experts from France, Italy, and Germany, would pore over a 1,246-page text although much of the information was already well-known, said a report by The Guardian.

The bloc and the United Kingdom (UK) on Christmas eve shook hands on a trade deal that would continue to waive tariffs and allow Britain to take full control of its fishing waters.

Without a deal, European economies, including the UK, were expected to be thrown into chaos.

The latter was slated to leave the single market union on December 31, the same date that the two parties should meet to avoid adopting the trade rules of the World Trade Organization.

The two parties almost called off a string of negotiations over differences on issues such as fishing, business competition rules, and governance of any deal.

It can be learned that the EU proposed to the UK that it would return 18% of its sales from fishes caught in British waters. The UK disagreed with the proposal, saying it would not allow countries to undermine its status as a sovereign and independent country.

With European vessels catching roughly 650 million euros worth of fish from UK waters every year, the proposed amount would give the UK roughly 117 million euros yearly.

“EU ambassadors praised Michel Barnier and the EU negotiation team for their resilience and steadfastness under intense pressure during the Brexit negotiations with the UK,” an EU diplomat was quoted as saying.

“Ambassadors also thanked Michel Barnier and his team for the extraordinary cooperation and transparency during the negotiations which has greatly helped to ensure EU unity,” it added.

The diplomat said that they will now start a preliminary review of the draft texts of the various Brexit agreements.

“This exercise will take a few days as the core agreement on EU trade and cooperation already comprises 1,246 pages of a legal text,” the expert said.

“EU ambassadors unanimously endorsed a letter to the European parliament on the intention of EU member states to take a decision on the provisional application of the EU-UK agreement in the coming days,” it added.

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