A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May protests against the UK’s triggering of Article 50, outside the Houses of Parliament in central London yesterday. Pic/AFP
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May filed formal Brexit divorce papers yesterday, pitching the UK into the unknown and triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the cohesion of the European Union.
Nine months after Britons voted to leave, May notified EU Council President Donald Tusk through a hand-delivered letter that the UK is quitting the bloc under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.
The front pages of UK daily newspapers reporting on the Brexit launch. Pic/AFP
The PM, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to settle the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019.
“The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union,” May told lawmakers in the British Parliament. “This is a historic moment from which there can be no turning back.”
May has one of the toughest jobs of any recent British PM: holding Britain together in the face of renewed Scottish independence demands, while conducting arduous talks with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and other complex issues.
For the EU, already reeling from successive crises over debt and refugees, the loss of Britain is the biggest blow yet to 60 years of efforts to forge European unity in the wake of two devastating world wars. Its leaders say they do not want to punish Britain. But with nationalist, anti-EU parties on the rise across Europe, they cannot afford to give London generous terms that might encourage other member states to break away.
Voices
Donald Tusk, European Council President
‘We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye.’
Sigmar Gabriel, Foreign Minister, Germany
‘The negotiations will surely not be easy for either side. Bad feelings are understandable. But this can’t be the basis for defining our future relationship.’
Ford Motor Company, US carmaker
‘Any deal must include securing tariff-free trade with the wider Customs Union and not just the EU27, whilst retaining access to the best talent and resources.’
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