Top EU officials sign Brexit deal in closed door ceremony

The leaders of two of the European Union’s main institutions on Friday signed the divorce agreement governing Britain’s departure from the bloc next week, sealing the penultimate step in Brexit at a ceremony held without media access.

European Council President Charles Michel tweeted photos of the overnight signing with the president of the EU’s powerful executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in the presence of their Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

Both institutions rejected repeated media demands for access to what is a small but legally significant step marking the first time a member state has ever left the world’s biggest trading bloc. Time stamps on the official photos show that the ceremony took place at around 2 a.m. local time (0100 GMT).

“Charles Michel and I have just signed the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU, opening the way for its ratification by the European Parliament,” Von der Leyen tweeted about six hours after the signing.

“Things will inevitably change but our friendship will remain. We start a new chapter as partners and allies,” Michel tweeted in reference to ties with Britain, also hours after the signing ceremony, adding: “I can’t wait to write this new page together.”

After the signing, U.K. and EU officials took the document to London, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson put his own signature on it — also without journalists present.

Britain’s delayed and disputed Brexit bill became law in the country on Thursday, removing the last U.K. obstacle for it to leave on Jan. 31, more than 3 1/2 years after voters narrowly opted to do so in a June 2016 referendum.

The EU Parliament is expected to ratify the Brexit divorce deal next Wednesday just days before the deadline. It appears a formality after the assembly’s influential constitutional affairs committee voted in favor by a large margin on Thursday.

MADRID (AP) — British and Spanish foreign ministers said a new round of talks held Friday over the status of the disputed territory of Gibraltar following Britain’s exit from the European Union were productive and significant progress was made.

The meeting was between Spain's José Manuel Albares, Britain’s David Cameron and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels. Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also attended. It was the first time representatives from the four areas had come together for talks on the issue.

In a statement after the meeting, the parties said "discussions took place in a constructive atmosphere, with significant progress achieved.

“General political lines have been agreed (on), including on airport, goods and mobility. Negotiations will continue over the coming weeks to conclude the EU-UK Agreement,” it added.

All sides are eager to clinch a deal before European elections in June.

Britain left the European Union in 2020 with the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc unresolved. Talks on a deal to ensure people and goods can keep flowing over the Gibraltar-Spain border have made halting progress in the 19 rounds of negotiations so far, but both Spanish and U.K. officials have recently expressed optimism about a deal.

In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in Gibraltar supported remaining in the EU. The tiny territory on Spain's southern tip depends greatly on access to the EU market for its 34,000 inhabitants.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations concerning the Rock, as it is popularly referred to in English, have had their ups and downs over the centuries.

A major sticking point has been who controls Gibraltar’s airport, which under the proposed free-movement deal would be an external border of the EU. The U.K. and Gibraltar have resisted Spain’s insistence that Spanish border officials be based at the airport, which is also home to a Royal Air Force base.

The British Foreign Office said Thursday that while it did not expect a final agreement Friday, "getting senior political figures from the UK, European Commission, Spain and Gibraltar in one room is significant.”

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.