EU MEPs Set to Approve Brexit Deal in Symbolic Session

The 751 members of the European Parliament will debate the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and set to approve the terms of the UK's departure from the European Union (EU) in a historic vote on Wednesday, in Brussels.

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This vote is the final hurdle to be cleared for Brexit to go ahead and will mark the final stage of the ratification process, ahead of the UK's exit on January 31st.

The EU's negotiators have kept the European Parliament on board throughout the Brexit process. Its central committees have given their approval: inevitably, that the deal will be endorsed.

BBC states that Wednesday's session will be primarily symbolic and is likely to be the highest-profile event in the EU's distinctly low-key goodbye to the UK. The outcome of the vote is not in any doubt after the Withdrawal Agreement was signed off by key parliamentary committees last week.

“The proceedings will be an opportunity for those on either side of the Brexit battles of recent years, including the UK's 73 MEPs, to celebrate or lament the end of the UK's membership of the EU after 47 years,” according to the BBC.

The debate will be opened by the Parliament's Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt, who has been one of Brexit's sharpest critics, despite this, last week, he paid tribute to the UK's, acknowledging that their "knowledge, energy and wit" would be missed. Other prominent figures expected include the UK's Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, who has been campaigning for the UK's exit ever since first elected in 1999.

The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, has acknowledged that the UK's exit would be "painful" for the bloc but building a new partnership based upon friendly co-operation and mutual interests were now essential.

The main send-off of the 73 British members will happen on Friday when the president of the European Parliament will deliver a joint statement alongside the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission.

There will be an 11-month transition period in which the two sides hope to negotiate their future economic relationship. Trade talks are expected to begin in early March. The UK has insisted they cannot be extended beyond 31 December 2020 when the interim arrangement - which will see the UK follow EU rules - comes to an end.