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Brexit: the United Kingdom opens a new page in its history

 

After completing its break with the European Union, the United Kingdom opens on Friday a new page in its history full of unknowns for a country deeply divided and hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

At midnight (French time), without the slightest effusion within a massively confined population, the country ceased to apply EU rules, leaving the single market and the customs union.

After 47 years of stormy European integration and after four and a half years of twists and turns following the 2016 referendum, this is the culmination of Brexit, official since January 31 but with the effects postponed by a transitional period intended to cushion the shock.

“A year of hope”

In an editorial published in the Daily Telegraph, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, great architect of Brexit, assures that 2021 will be “a year of change and hope”, praising the free trade agreement concluded before Christmas with Brussels.

“For us, this means the end of the spiteful quarrels over Europe that have poisoned our policy for so long,” he pleads. “For our friends, that certainly doesn’t mean they’ve lost us, let alone our appetite for their Maseratis or their Gewurtztraminer.”

The sparkling “BoJo” dangled to his compatriots a new era full of promise and a reinforced place in the world of champion of free trade. In the immediate future, it is a country seriously bereaved by the new coronavirus pandemic and struck by its worst economic crisis in three centuries which is leaving the bosom of Europe, or its straitjacket, it depends.

A deal for a smoother breakup

The free trade agreement, without quotas or customs duties, concluded in extremis with Brussels, avoids a too abrupt break, devastating economically. But the upheaval is real: the free movement of goods and people alike to cross the border unimpeded has ended – except between Spain and the British enclave of Gibraltar, as well as between Northern Ireland and the Republic from Ireland.

It is now necessary to fill out customs declarations and undergo health inspections to export through the Channel, a residence permit to settle on the other side, and a health certificate for British dogs and cats traveling to the EU.

The wrath of Scotland

The UK’s global ambitions risk colliding with the departure of Donald Trump, a convinced Brexiter unlike his successor in the White House, Joe Biden.

In his country, Boris Johnson must turn the page of a saga that took him to the top of the political scale but has deeply divided the British. The unity of the Kingdom is cracked, especially on the side of Scotland, which voted by a large majority to stay in the EU.

“Scotland will be back soon, Europe,” tweeted Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, determined to hold another referendum on independence.

Expected disruptions

In the short term, disruptions are feared in the south of England on the roads leading to the trans-Channel ports, if the new formalities slow down traffic and lengthen the lines of trucks, especially next week.

Unlike the EU, the UK government has decided to gradually implement customs controls, which will not affect all goods until July. London is leaving the single market without a word of goodbye from the EU: in Brussels, none of the leaders of the European institutions spoke within hours of the split.

“This Brexit was the child of European malaise and many lies and false promises”, regretted French President Emmanuel Macron in his wishes.

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