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France's Emmanuel Macron said the accord was the product of "unity and strength" demonstrated by the bloc. "The agreement with the United Kingdom is essential to protect our citizens, our fishermen, our producers. We will make sure that this is the case," he noted.The BBC was berated for its "spurious and biased" coverage of the deal:
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hailed the deal as "good news" and said it guaranteed the "interests and rights of European businesses and citizens."
Even Guy Verhofstadt, the EU parliament's chief Brexit representative and a militant proponent of European unity, said he was happy with the deal, even if it was "less ambitious" than what he'd wanted.
Notably, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel was "optimistic" that her country would sign off on the agreement and expressed hope that the accord would "create the basis for a new chapter" in bilateral relations between the UK and Germany.
Among EU states, Ireland was perhaps the least enthusiastic about the new arrangement. The nation's opposition to the UK leaving the bloc is no surprise, as it creates complications due to its shared border with Northern Ireland. Prime Minister Micheรกl Martin, said that there is "no such thing as a 'good Brexit' for Ireland," but stressed the accord represents "the least bad version of Brexit possible."
Wales is not particularly thrilled and described the agreement as a "thin" deal, raising questions about whether Johnson's victory lap is warranted. "It will not be as easy to travel into Europe as it has been. Welsh students will not have access to universities in Europe in the way that we have enjoyed," Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said of the deal. He said that the accord did not honor the "promises" made to Wales about the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and EU. However, he conceded that the agreement provided a much-needed sense of stability for Welsh businesses, and suggested that it could be improved-upon in the future.
Scotland, furious, says it was backstabbed. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has lambasted the UK government for allegedly breaking its commitments to Scotland's fishing industry. She claimed that the compromise over fishing rights was particularly unforgivable.
"The extent of these broken promises will become apparent to all very soon. People in Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU, but their views have been ignored. Scotland should begin to "chart our own future as an independent European nation."
There is "no deal that will ever make up for what Brexit takes away from us." The decision by the UK to leave the union has breathed fresh life into the Scottish independence movement.
Brexiteers hammered the BBC, claiming the taxpayer-funded broadcaster was interviewing "every man and his dog who could be against Brexit and the deal just done."
BBC, however, did interview Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage who told the network that the deal wasn't quite the clean slate he wanted, but left the UK "a lot better off than we were five years ago."
Against this background, new director Tim Davie has vowed to restore the BBC's once-famed objectivity. How accurately his network's Brexit coverage in the coming days will reflect that pledge is unclear, but the BBC's journalists, thanks to Davie's new rules, will at least be forbidden from "virtue signalling" on social media about the deal.
Where are the EU students queuing up to come to Wales,... none to speak of,... and who can blame them? Is there any Welsh businesses left? Anyway, the ''could be improved-upon in the future'' will require the removal of the entire Welsh assembly. Flogging a dead horse there, are they not? How can the undead speak of breathing life into something that has been made dead, by undead turd worshippers? What planet is he on? What planet is he on?
Anyway, the so-called Brexit deal seems to me to be something that can be easily reversed by ''another government'' (in name only)