After 47 years of stormy marriage, the moorings are cast: the United Kingdom broke the rules on Thursday European, a “Incredible moment” but heavy in challenges for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a great architect of Brexi.
The energetic «BoJo» dangled for the British a new era full of promise and a strengthened 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.
At 11 p.m. local and GMT (midnight in Brussels), with no outpouring of joy among a largely confined population, the UK stopped applying EU rules. He left the single market and the European customs union.
“We have our freedom in our hands”
Four and a half years after a referendum which marked the victory of the « leave » at 52%, taking the world by surprise, it is the culmination of Brexit for the country, officially leaving the EU on January 31 but having benefited from a transitional period to cushion the shock.
“It’s an incredible moment. We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it ”, congratulated Boris Johnson in his wishes. He assured that the UK would be “Open, generous, turned outwards”.
The free trade agreement, without quotas or customs duties, concluded in extremis with Brussels avoids a too abrupt rupture which would have created chaos at the border or even shortages. But the upheaval is real: Free movement of goods and people alike to cross the border unhindered has ended – except between Spain and the British enclave of Gibraltar, under an agreement reached Thursday.
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.
“Our own decisions”
On the political level, Boris Johnson must turn the page of a saga which took him to the highest political level but has deeply divided the British, like his own family since his father Stanley Johnson, who said to himself “Still European”, requested French nationality.
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.
The unity of the Kingdom is cracked and the inclinations for independence of Scotland, which voted by a large majority to remain in the EU, are revived.
” It’s truly sad “, told AFP Zoe Stewart, interviewed by AFP in Edinburgh, Scotland. “We must really embark on the process of independence”, she believes, in order to “To be able to make our own choices and not always have to endure those of England”.
“We need to make our own decisions and be our own leaders”, defends Maureen Martin, a retiree from the English port of Dover, believing that her country would not have “Never due” join the European Community in 1973.
In this cross-Channel port, the inhabitants mostly voted for Brexit but many fear the mess if the lines of trucks slowed down by the new formalities, especially next week.
Unlike the EU, the British government has decided to gradually implement customs controls, which will not affect all goods until July. He does not expect big disruptions in the coming days, although he fears that up to half of exporting SMEs are not ready.
1,246 pages of agreement
“This Brexit was the child of the European malaise and of many lies and false promises”, regretted French President Emmanuel Macron in his wishes.
Like a Brexit saga rich in twists and turns, it was not until Christmas Eve to see the laborious negotiations between London and Brussels lead to a trade agreement, leaving only a few days to implement its 1 246 pages.
The EU is offering the UK duty-free and quota-free access to its market of 450 million consumers. But it provides, to avoid any unfair competition, sanctions and compensatory measures in the event of non-compliance with its rules on state aid, the environment, labor law and taxation.
Financial companies, a major sector in London, will lose their automatic right to offer their services in the EU, while British fishermen are disappointed that they still have to share a large part of their waters with Europeans.
European Union chief negotiator Michel Barnier told French radio RTL to feel “A certain bitterness” : “No one has ever been able to show me the added value of Brexit. “
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