The UK exits the transition period on entering a new partnership with the 27 member states following a historic day in the House of Commons.

Boris Johnson’s EU trade deal cleared Parliament after the Government rushed approval through the Commons and Lords in a single day.

Peers gave the European Union (Future Relationship) Bill, ratifying the deal finally agreed on Christmas Eve, an unopposed third reading.

Their approval came just hours after MPs backed the Bill by 521 to 73 at third reading, with just two Tories abstaining – but Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer suffered a rebellion.

The agreement means the UK has access to its biggest export market tariff-free and quota-free, but the end of the transition period from December 31 will still see companies having to make adjustments to their operations.

READ MORE: Post-Brexit trade deal enters into law

While the news made headlines around the UK, European media outlets also covered the event. We take a look at the insight and analysis offered in major newspapers around the continent. 

France24 focussed on the divide caused by Brexit finally ending writing: "For five years, the frenzied gyrations of the Brexit crisis have dominated European affairs, haunted the sterling markets and tarnished the United Kingdom's reputation as a confident pillar of Western economic and political stability. 

"Walking away from almost half a century of membership means change to everything from pet passports and driving licence rules for the British in Europe to data rules."

The French media outlet also touched on the prospect of an independent Scotland following the Brexit vote writing: "Support for Scottish independence has risen, partly due to Brexit and partly due to COVID-19, threatening the 300-year-old political union between England and Scotland. "

Another French outfit, Le Figaro featured an article titled “How Boris Johnson kept the gun on the negotiating table to the end” stating that “The Prime Minister has won a political victory with his “deal”. 

The Herald:

The article added: "Now that he has fulfilled his promise to achieve Brexit, his challenge is to make it a success.” 

Le Monde had a number of articles on the news from the House of Commons yesterday, but also carried an editorial focussing on the UK’s decision to leave the European academic exchange, Erasmus. 

The editorial titled 'Britons orphaned by Erasmus' questioned the tactics of the UK government in seeking a new exchange programme stating: “British universities will seek alternative solutions and conclude bilateral exchange agreements. Why make it simple when you can make it complicated? This is one of the many mysteries of Brexit.” 

German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung carried an article questioning whether or not Brexit would make it harder for their readers to holiday in the UK, but also focused on the Queen signing off on the Brexit deal. Reporting on the future of the UK, the article reported:“In the future, controls will be necessary at borders because standards have to be checked, including for agricultural products. For citizens, the possibility of simply moving is over. Visa-free travel will also be limited in time in the future.” 

Carlos Fresneda writing in Spain’s El Mundo focussed on Boris Johnson’s comments prior to the vote in which the Prime Minister said: We are going to be friends and allies of the EU”

Writing in the Irish Times, Denis Staunton reported on the political aspect of the Brexit deal and the comments made by the DUP’s Sammy Wilson over the Northern Ireland protocol. In his analysis piece "Tories exultant over backing of Brexit Bill drown out DUP" he wrote: “It has been like this all the way through the Brexit drama, when the DUP won the balance of power at Westminster, only to make the wrong choice for themselves and their community at every turn.

"Drunk on hubris, they rejected Theresa May’s proposal to keep the whole of the UK aligned with some European Union rules rather than leave Northern Ireland under a separate regime. 

"Instead, they plotted with Conservative hardliners to replace her with Johnson and they have been rewarded with one betrayal after another.”

READ MORE: Brexit deal: What does the potential trade deal mean for me?

Jörg Schindler in Der Spiegel wrote a chronicle of his experience in covering Brexit and attempted to look at the different issues that had led to Brexit happening in the first place in a piece simply called "Farewell". He stated: "On my numerous visits to London I always walked through a city that seemed to me to be the only truly international city in Europe, one that radiated its global magnetism much more relaxed than Paris, Brussels or Berlin. The majority of Scots and Londoners voted against Brexit. But had the whole rest of the country really moved collectively to the right?"

 He added: ” To this day, apart from world-changing things like the abolition of VAT on tampons, it has remained astonishingly unclear what exactly the future of the UK, liberated from the EU, should look like.”