BRUSSELS—A planned summit between European Union leaders and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will take place Sunday to endorse a negotiated Brexit deal, after Spain obtained extra guarantees over the status of Gibraltar.
European Council President Donald Tusk on Saturday sent an invitation letter to leaders saying that “the EU27 has passed the test of unity and solidarity.”
That unity was put to the test in recent days after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to thwart the deal if there are no changes to the language regarding the disputed territory of Gibraltar, a U.K. territory on the Iberian peninsula that London and Madrid have squabbled over for three centuries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also had threatened not to come to the summit if outstanding issues remain for leaders to solve on the day of the meeting.
To overcome the impasse, the U.K. government gave written reassurances that the future trade deal still to be negotiated with the EU after Brexit wouldn’t automatically cover the same territory as Britain’s withdrawal agreement with the EU, which does apply to Gibraltar.
However the U.K. government position remains that it will negotiate a future trade agreement that protects the interests of all parts of the U.K., a British official said
Mr. Sanchez said he will sign off on the deal Sunday after the U.K. and the EU agreed to Spain’s conditions on Gibraltar.
Mrs. May is due in Brussels later Saturday for meetings with senior EU officials.
The leaders will congregate in Brussels at 9:30 a.m. local time and are expected to endorse both the withdrawal agreements—the legally binding document spelling out the terms of Britain’s planned exit from the bloc in March—as well as the political declaration by EU leaders outlining the areas of cooperation with the U.K. in a yet-to-be-negotiated future trade and security agreement.
The deal still faces a tall hurdle in the U.K., where Mrs. May faces an uphill battle to win parliamentary backing.
Write to Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com
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