Britain officially triggers Brexit
Britain has 🎃officially begun the process of leaving the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday as she hailed the juncture as a “historic momeℱnt.”
May’s remarks came after European Council President Donald Tusk received the hand-🐲delivered letter from the British ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, which triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally starting the Br💙exit process.
“The Article 50 process is now under way and in accordance with the wishes of the British people, the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union,” May told lawmakers in the House of Commons.
May noted, “This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back,” adding, “Now is the time for us to come together.”
The prime minister s🔴aid Britain will be the “best friend and neighbor to our European partners” following Brexit.
Shortly after receiving th꧋e letter, , “After nine months the UK has delivered. #Brexit,” referring to when British citizens voted 52 to 48 percent to leave the 28-country bloc that 𒐪makes up the EU on June 23 last year.
Tusk then of him receiving t🐻he Article 50 letter from Barrow in front of British and EU flags in Brussels.
During a 𝕴lat💮er speech, Tusk said there is “no reason to pretend this is a happy day.”
Both sides now have two years — until March 2019 — to agree on a🦄 new re🦂lationship.
“It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country,” May saಞid. “For as we face the opportunities ahead of us on this momentous journey our shared values, interests, and ambitions can and must bring us togeth☂er.”
In♍ a call for unity, May said, “For this great national moment needs a great national effort. An effort to shape a stronger future for Britain. So let us do so t🐻ogether. Let us come together and work together. Let us together choose to believe in Britain with optimism and hope.”
“For if we do, we can make the most of the opportunities ahead. We can together make a success of this moment and we can together build a stronger, fairer, better Britain. A Britain our children and gran༺dchildren are proud to cal𒊎l home,” she said.
Those who voted t♌o leave the bloc were in a celebratory mood.
“In my opinion, this is the greatest moment in modern British history,” said Brendan Chilton, general secretary of the pro-Brexit group Labour Leave. “We are finally beginning the process by which we leave the European Union, restore our Parliament and once again become a sovereign nation.”
For the “remain” campaigners, it was time to fight for a divorce settlement that preserves what they see as key benefits of EU membership, includi𝓰ng free trade in goods and services and the right to live and work anywhere in the bloc.
“The phony war is over,” said Joe Carberry, co-director of the pro-EU pressure group Open Britain.
He said Britain had decided that it would leave the bloc — but “the issue of how we will leave, and the democratic checks and balances along the process of the negotiations, remains unresolved.”
The loss of a major member is destabilizing for the EU, wඣhich is fighting to contain a tide of nationalist and populist sentiment and faces unprecedented antipathy from President Trump.
Tusk has said that within 48 hours, he will respond with draft negotiating guidelines for the 💝remaining 27 member states to consider.
With Post wires