Brexit becomes a reality as the UK leaves the EU single market



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London, United Kingdom-On Thursday, December 31, 2020, Britain finally broke its turbulent half-century association with Europe, abandoning the EU’s single market and customs union and going its own way four and a half years after its shocking vote to leave the bloc. .

Brexit, which has dominated politics on both sides of the English Channel since 2016, became a reality when Big Ben hit 11:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) in London, just as most of continental Europe was ticking. the beginning of 2021.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the front man for the “Leave” campaign, described it as an “astonishing moment” for the country and played out his optimistic narrative of a “global Britain” without chains of the rules established in Brussels.

He promised that the UK post-Brexit, despite being hit by a surge in coronavirus cases, would be an “open, generous, outward-looking, internationalist and free trade” country.

“We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it.”

Legally, Britain left the European Union on January 31, but has been in a paralyzed transition period during contentious talks to secure a free trade deal with Brussels, which was finally closed on Christmas Eve.

Now that the transition is over, the EU rules no longer apply. The immediate consequence is the end of the free movement of more than 500 million people between Great Britain and the 27 states of the EU.

Customs border controls are back for the first time in decades, and despite the free trade agreement, queues and disruptions are expected for additional paperwork.

– ‘A little headache’ –

Matt Smith, managing director of HSF Logistics, which mainly ships fresh meat and chilled goods between Britain and Europe, said he would ship around 15 loaded trucks to the EU on New Year’s Eve before the changes.

The government’s new post-Brexit customs systems have not been largely tested and Smith doubted how his business would fare with the new paperwork.

“We are not very sure to be honest, it seems like a headache,” he told AFP. “There will be delays along the line at some point.”

Britain is the first member state to leave the EU, which was created to forge unity after the horrors of World War II.

The 2016 referendum opened long-lasting wounds between those who dropped out and the rest, and ushered in years of political paralysis before Johnson took office last year, vowing to chart a future for Britain based on scientific innovation and new partnerships across the seas.

A parliamentary debate on Wednesday to ratify the trade deal was marked by elegiac farewells from pro-EU lawmakers and warnings of disruption as Britain dismantles the intricate web of ties built since joining the EU forerunner in 1973 .

– Fishing and finance –

While the EU trade deal avoided potential business chaos for the foreseeable future, the divorce will play out in many practical ways.

The changes apply to everything from pet passports to the length of time Brits can visit their holiday homes on the mainland and an end to British participation in a student exchange program.

Potential port disruptions are fueling fears of food and medicine shortages, as well as delays for tourists and business travelers used to traveling smoothly in the EU.

British fishermen are unhappy with the commitment to allow continued access for EU vessels in British waters.

The key financial services sector is also facing anxious wait to find out on what basis it can continue to deal with Europe, having been largely omitted from the trade deal.

In a historic agreement sealed just hours before 2300 GMT, the small British territory of Gibraltar will become part of Europe’s passport-free zone to keep movements smooth on its border with Spain.

Northern Ireland’s border with EU member state Ireland will be closely watched to ensure movement is unrestricted, a key element of the 1998 peace agreement that ended 30 years of violence over British rule. .

And in pro-EU Scotland, where Brexit has fueled calls for a new vote on independence, Johnson faces a possible constitutional headache as 2021 dawns.

But opinion polls indicate that a majority of Britons, on both sides of the referendum divide, want to move on and are far more concerned about the worsening coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the country harder than most. .

Johnson, who was one of those affected by the virus, warned of difficult times ahead due to the resurgence of Covid-19 infections, but said a vaccine developed in the UK offers reason for hope.

– ‘Let’s be our own bosses’ –

“It’s going to be better,” said Maureen Martin, from the port of Dover which is on the other side of the French Channel. “We need to govern ourselves and be our own bosses.”

Britain is a great financial and diplomatic success and one of the top NATO powers with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and in the G7 group of the world’s richest economies.

The EU has now lost 66 million people and an economy valued at 2.85 trillion dollars, and it is regretted that Britain wanted to leave.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Britain will remain “our friend and ally” but regretted that Brexit is the fruit of “many lies and false promises.”

“No one has been able to show me the added value of Brexit,” added EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier. “It’s a divorce … you can’t have a divorce.”

Boarding a Eurostar train in Paris as Brexit time approached, Francois Graffin, 59, said he was going to pack up his life in London and live in France again.

“It breaks my heart,” he said.

– I can’t blame the EU –

In Britain, Brexit has been the culmination of years of anti-Brussels turmoil as the union transformed from a business community to a more ambitious political project.

However, the 2016 referendum never specified what form Brexit should take.

Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, repeatedly failed to push for a “soft” split that would have kept Britain largely tied to the EU.

But he made a much tougher deal, in the face of deep unrest from UK opposition parties and businesses.

Now, after months of stormy negotiations that were repeatedly disrupted by the pandemic, Brussels is also ready to move on.

But British lawmaker Chris Hazzard of the Irish Republican Sinn Fein party said Brexit was far from over.

“When all the bragging dies down … it will be depressingly clear that this trade agreement is … the beginning of a new business relationship built on permanent negotiations, disputes and recriminations,” he warned.

The Daily Telegraph, where Johnson made a name for himself as a European correspondent criticizing Brussels, said the government faces a new reality stripped of the specter of the EU.

“Politicians will have to get used to taking on much greater responsibilities than they used to have while the UK has been in the EU,” he said.

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