European Union member states on Tuesday approved the post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement with the United Kingdom and its provisional application as of 1 January 2021.

The agreement will be signed on Wednesday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels and by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London. It will be applied provisionally until approved by the European Parliament, which is expected in January or February.

“I am pleased that all EU 27 have given approval. By joining forces, we have succeeded in preventing a chaotic turn of the year,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said on Twitter.