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Brexit is finally over: after breaking away from the European Union, Britain also left the EU internal market and the customs union in the new year. “This is a great moment for this country. We have freedom in our hands and now it is up to us to make the most of it,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in his New Year’s address to the British people. Britain can now do things differently, “and if necessary better than our friends in the EU.”
After 47 years of membership, Britain left the EU at the end of January 2020. At the end of the year, the 11-month transition phase since leaving the EU ended, during which largely the same rules continued to apply. . Now the financial divorce has been made.
Any Brexit celebrations had to be absent due to the crown. The Thames capital remained quiet on New Year’s Eve. But the bells of the Big Ben tower clock, which is currently being restored, rang at 11 p.m. local time (midnight Brussels time) as an exception to herald the new era.
A trade and association agreement negotiated with the EU at the last minute should make the break compatible. For example, no tariffs or quantity restrictions will apply to merchandise trade. In addition, the nearly 1,250-page contract regulates many other issues, including fisheries and cooperation in energy, transport, justice and police. Britain is still bound by many European rules. The London parliament approved the agreement in record time shortly before the turn of the year, by the EU it will apply for the moment because there was not enough time for the vote in the European Parliament.
Despite the trade pact, there are now major changes on both sides of the English Channel. Moving will be more difficult and visa-free travel will also be limited in the future. In future, controls will be necessary at the borders because the rules have to be checked, even for agricultural products.
On the historic night, Scotland said goodbye to the EU with great emotion
On New Year’s Day, there are no fears of delays in truck traffic across the English Channel. The situation in the Eurotunnel was calm, said a spokesman for the German press agency Getlink operator. No increased traffic volume is expected until the course of January, as not many companies are in charge immediately after the turn of the year.
The authorities had previously announced that they would initially handle the regulations quite flexibly. A repeat of the chaos seen in the Kent border region before and at Christmas must be avoided at all costs: Thousands of truckers had to wait days in their trucks because France surprisingly closed the border and everyone who entered the country had a proof of negative crown. had requested. The reason was the discovery of a new, possibly highly contagious, variant of coronavirus in southern England.
On the historic night, Scotland said goodbye to the EU with great emotion. “Scotland will be back soon,” Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon wrote on Twitter. “Leave the light on.” He sent a photo showing the words “Europe” and “Scotland” linked to a heart projected onto the EU Commission building. Sturgeon aims to break away from the UK and return to the EU.
At the last minute there was also an agreement for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on New Year’s Eve: Spain and Great Britain agreed that Gibraltar would join the Schengen area without border controls. This will prevent the border between Spain and Gibraltar at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula from becoming a waterproof external border for the EU as of January 1, 2021, the Spanish Foreign Ministry said. The Brexit trade pact does not apply to Gibraltar. Instead, Gibraltar will join Spain and the EU more closely. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 96 percent of Gibraltar’s 33,000 residents voted to remain in the EU.
