This time it's over.
The United Kingdom leaves the European Union on December 31 at midnight.
A historic break sealed by the adoption of a text of 1,246 pages by the House of Commons, Wednesday, December 30, by 521 votes for and 73 against.
After 47 years of European integration and four and a half years of heartbreak following the Brexit referendum, the United Kingdom, which formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, will then cease to apply European rules.
He is leaving the single European market, the customs union and the Erasmus student exchange program.
Chronological return to this more than stormy divorce.
June
23
,
2016
After 43 years of belonging to the European community, British voters vote by referendum by nearly 52% for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
David Cameron, the Conservative Prime Minister who organized this consultation and campaigned for retention in the EU, announces his resignation.
On July 13, he gave his place to his Minister of the Interior, Theresa May.
BREXIT - The United Kingdom leaves the European Union: A look back at a completely crazy night
January
17
,
2017
In front of foreign diplomats and British Brexit negotiators gathered at Lancaster House, where Margaret Thatcher announced in 1988 British support for the single market, Theresa May announces that the United Kingdom will leave the European single market at the same time as the European Union.
"No partial membership of the European Union, no associate member status of the EU, nothing that leaves us half out, half in. We are not trying to adopt a model that other countries already enjoy ", she announces, fixing her" red lines "and assuring that a lack of agreement will be better than a bad agreement.
March
29
,
2017
Nine months after the British vote, Theresa May formally initiates the divorce procedure by activating in a letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, Article 50 of the European Treaty of Lisbon.
The text provides that "any Member State may decide, in accordance with its constitutional rules, to withdraw from the Union" and sets a period of two years to negotiate the terms of the divorce.
Brexit will therefore have to be negotiated and ratified by March 29, 2019 at 11 p.m. GMT.
March
31
,
2017
Donald Tusk responds in London by presenting the roadmap of the Europeans for the negotiations to come, with a first phase relating to the modalities of the divorce then, in a second phase only, the negotiation of a possible period of transition and of future relations trade between London and Europeans.
Among their demands, the Europeans are calling for the settlement of the existing financial commitments made by London - the invoice must amount to tens of billions of euros - and the granting of a residence permit to the 3 million European nationals living in the United Kingdom - United.
It is also a question of avoiding the return of a "physical" border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, in order to preserve the peace agreements of 1998.
June
8
,
2017
The early parliamentary elections ordered by Theresa May to establish her authority turn into a nightmare for the Prime Minister: her Conservative Party loses the absolute majority in the House of Commons, May now depends on the ten Northern Irish elected members of the Democratic Unionist Party of Ulster ( DUP).
Its position is weakened even before the official launch of negotiations with Brussels.
September
22
,
2017
In a speech in Florence, Theresa May tries to revive stalled negotiations by deciding for a transition period of around two years after Brexit during which the UK would remain in the single market.
December
8
,
2017
"White smoke" in Brussels where the United Kingdom and the European Union announced at dawn an agreement in principle on the terms of their divorce, which will allow them to move on to the second phase of negotiations.
Dec.
15
,
2017
Meeting at a summit in Brussels, the European Union validates the opening of the second phase of negotiations on the exit of the United Kingdom while warning against the difficulty of the discussions to come.
Theresa May, on the Irish question, gives her agreement in principle to a so-called "backstop" solution, a safeguard clause which would apply as a last resort - if London and Brussels fail to agree on a better
solution - to avoid the return of customs controls between Ireland and Northern Ireland by keeping the British province within the customs union and the single market.
March
19
,
2018
An agreement is reached in Brussels between Great Britain and the European Union on the post-Brexit transition period which should run from the effective date of Brexit until December 31, 2020. Details remain to be discussed on the
Irish border dossier, indicates the chief negotiator of the Europeans, Michel Barnier.
An
eventful
summer
2018
On July 6, Theresa May gathered her government for a seminar in Checkers, her official residence in north London, to define a White Paper on Brexit.
On July 9, David Davis, his Brexit minister, and Boris Johnson, his foreign minister, resigned in quick succession to protest against this text, which was published three days later.
On July 19, the European Commission published a document explaining to the Twenty-Seven the procedure to follow in the event of no agreement with London and asking them to speed up preparations for a "dry exit".
"If the Withdrawal Agreement is not ratified by March 30, 2019, there will be no transition period and EU law will cease to apply in the UK from March 30, 2019 This is the 'no deal' or 'brutal rupture' scenario, ”warns the Commission.
October
20
,
2018
Hundreds of thousands of supporters of keeping the UK in the EU are marching through the streets of London to demand a second referendum on Brexit.
Organizers put the number of demonstrators at 700,000, unheard of in Britain since a protest against the war in Iraq in 2003.
In the UK, a campaign to say "Shit Brexit"
November
13
,
2018
Following leaks in the Irish and British media, London confirms that negotiators from the European Union and Great Britain have finally agreed on a technical draft of a withdrawal agreement.
November
15
,
2018
Unhappy with the terms of the deal negotiated by Theresa May, several of her ministers resign, including her Brexit minister, Dominic Raab.
25
november
2018
The leaders of the Twenty-Seven, meeting at an extraordinary summit in Brussels, validate the agreement.
December
10
,
2018
Fearing that she might not have a majority to pass the draft agreement negotiated with Brussels, Theresa May postpones the vote scheduled for the next day in the Commons and announces that she will go to Brussels to obtain assurances, in particular on the issue of the safeguard clause on Ireland.
December
12
,
2018
By 200 votes to 117, Theresa May survives a vote of no confidence triggered by her rivals in the Conservative Party.
January
15
,
2019
The withdrawal agreement was massively rejected for the first time in the House of Commons by 432 votes to 202.
March
12
,
2019
With just 17 days to go before Brexit is due, British MPs in the House of Commons reject the withdrawal agreement for a second time, by 391 votes to 242.
March
13
,
2019
British MPs approve a text calling on the government to exclude the track of a no-deal Brexit.
Theresa May warns them that she will not be able to get a Brexit postponement if they do not accept the withdrawal agreement by March 20.
March
21
,
2019
Meeting in Brussels, the 27 heads of state and government outside the UK postpone the Brexit date from March 29 to May 22 - if the House of Commons ratifies the withdrawal agreement the following week - or April 12 in the case
opposite.
March
23
,
2019
Several hundred thousand people hostile to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union are demonstrating again in central London to demand the holding of a second referendum for or against Brexit.
The organizers of the march estimate their number at over a million.
At the same time, more than five million Britons signed a petition calling for the revocation of Article 50 and the end of the divorce proceedings.
March
29
,
2019
For the third time, Members of the House of Commons reject the UK's exit agreement from the European Union by 344 votes to 286, on the same day as the date originally scheduled for Brexit.
April
2
,
2019
Theresa May, after a conclave with her ministers that lasted seven hours at 10 Downing Street, announces in a televised address that she intends to ask for a further postponement, as brief as possible, of the Brexit date .
At the same time, she is reaching out to Labor opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in order to break the ongoing parliamentary impasse and find common ground with him so that she can propose the following week to the 'European Union an acceptable formula, with a view to allowing an orderly Brexit.
Discussions will not succeed.
The failure will be recorded in mid-May.
April
11
,
2019
EU heads of state and government are postponing the Brexit date to October 31.
23
May
2019
More than three years after the referendum, the British are going to the polls for European elections in which they did not believe they should participate.
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is crushing its opponents with 31.6% of the vote ahead of the pro-European Liberal Democrats (18.6%), Labor (14.1%), the Greens (11.1%) and the Conservatives , relegated to a humiliating fifth place with 8.7% of the vote.
In the week before the election, Theresa May had brought down her last card by proposing closer trade ties with the EU without ruling out the holding of a second referendum.
But his offer cemented a front of rejection ranging from the more pro-Brexit elements of his party to the Labor opposition.
May
24
,
2019
With tears on the edge of her eyes, Theresa May announces her resignation.
She specifies that she will step down as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7.
The process of appointing his successor, who will also head the government, will then begin.
Resignation of Theresa May: "It is a deep regret that we were not able to accomplish Brexit"
July
24
,
2019
Comfortably elected the day before at the head of the Conservative Party, Boris Johnson succeeds Theresa May at the head of the government.
He promises that the UK will leave the EU "at all costs" by October 31, with or without a deal.
"People who bet against Britain will be at their cost because we will restore confidence in our democracy, keep Parliament's repeated promises to the people and leave the EU on October 31, period." ,
announces the former mayor of London in his first address to 10 Downing Street.
He later specified that there could be no agreement if the Northern Irish "backstop" was maintained.
But Brussels maintains that the withdrawal agreement is not renegotiable.
August
28
,
2019
Boris Johnson is causing an uproar by calling for the suspension of the work of the Parliament of Westminster from a date between 9 and 12 September and until 14 October, just two weeks before the due date of Brexit.
September
3
,
2019
Parliamentary reopening in the House of Commons, where Boris Johnson is in the minority: 21 Conservative MPs mix their voices with those of the opposition to avoid the risk of a Brexit without agreement on October 31.
Their initiative was approved by 328 votes against 301.
September
4
,
2019
The Commons vote in favor of a text urging Boris Johnson to request a postponement of Brexit from the European authorities.
They reject in the wake of a motion he had tabled to organize early parliamentary elections on October 15.
September
9
,
2019
Another parliamentary setback for Boris Johnson in the Commons: British MPs once again reject a motion tabled by the government to organize early parliamentary elections on October 15.
Parliamentary work is suspended until October 14.
October 17, 2019
Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announce that they have reached a new agreement.
But British deputies postpone their vote on the text organizing the exit from the EU, forcing the head of government to ask Brussels for a further postponement of Brexit, this time set for January 31, 2020. Early legislative elections are convened on December 12.
At the end of the ballot, Boris Johnson obtained a large parliamentary majority (365 deputies out of 650) allowing him to pass on January 9 the divorce agreement negotiated with Brussels.
January 31, 2020
Brexit goes into effect at 11 p.m. (London time GMT).
A transition period is planned until December 31, 2020, with the possibility of extension, supposed to allow London and Brussels to define their new relationship by then, in particular on the commercial level.
In June, the United Kingdom formalized its refusal to extend the transition period beyond the end of the year.
December 24, 2020
After repeatedly extending negotiations, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a compromise, just a week from the end of the transition period.
December 30, 2020
On the eve of the split, the UK and the EU ratified the deal.
During a brief ceremony in Brussels, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and her counterpart of the Council (institution representing the Member States) Charles Michel, all smiles, signed these documents, contained in blue binders, sent to London by Royal Air Force plane.
In the afternoon, British MPs ratified the agreement by 521 votes to 73.
December 31, 2020
At midnight, the UK officially exits the European Single Market.
What's in the post-Brexit agreement between the EU and the UK.
© france 24
With AFP and Reuters
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR