The UK will end its transition period from the European Union on December 31, 2020.
At 23:00 GMT on December 31, the BBC and other media broadcasted London’s “Big Ben” ringing. At this moment, Brussels, where the European Union headquarters is located, and most of the European continent have entered 2021, which means that the 11-month “Brexit” transition period is over.
“This is a wonderful moment for our country,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a New Year’s address that day. “Freedom is in our hands!”
The United Kingdom supports the “Brexit” camp to celebrate this moment. The photo on the front page of “Daily Express” is of the cliffs at Dover, England, with a British flag saying: Freedom. The media’s website opened a live broadcast section of “Brexit” with the title: Happy “Brexit”.
The anti-Brexit camp in the UK is worried about the country’s future. The Independent wrote: “Decoupling, or drifting?”
Nicola Sturgeon, the Chief Minister of the Scottish Government who supports staying in the EU, directly “showed good” the EU on social media: “Europe, Scotland will return soon. Keep the lights.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said in his New Year’s speech that Britain “is still our neighbor and friend and ally.”
Michel Barnier, the chief EU negotiator in charge of Brexit affairs in the UK, told the media, “This is a divorce… nothing to celebrate” and “No one can convince me that Brexit has more benefits” .
At the end of the “Brexit” transition period, French citizen François Graffin boarded the “Eurostar” train to London in Paris. He wants to “clean up” his life in London, and then return to live in France. “My heart is broken,” Graffin said. (Hui Xiaoshuang)[Xinhua News Agency Micro Feature]
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