UK/EU: Deal or delay?

Speculation has been growing that a post-Brexit trade deal will be announced before or on 24 December. In true Brexit fashion, however, earlier expectations for an imminent presentation of a deal turned out to have been too optimistic. As discussed in the past, a deal before year-end remains the most likely outcome, and the only deadline that matters is 31 December. If an agreement were to be presented within the next 24 hours, this would leave mainly two working days for formal sign-off on the European side, 28-29 December. The deal would be presented to member states’ EU ambassado