By Jacqueline Cook, Senior Knowledge Development Lawyer
In a flurry of last-minute negotiations, the EU and the UK agreed on the form of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the EU, European Atomic Energy Community and the UK on 24 December 2020 ("TCA") to bring about the "Brexit deal" on their future relationship. As timing was extremely tight, with the end of the Brexit transition period looming a week later1, ambassadors for each EU member state approved the TCA in principle, so it passed through EU Parliament unopposed. It was then signed by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission for the EU.