London (AFP)
After completing its break with the European Union, the United Kingdom opens on Friday a new page in its history full of unknowns for a country deeply divided and hard hit by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
At 11:00 p.m. local time and GMT on Thursday (midnight in Brussels), without the slightest effusion within a massively confined population, the country stopped applying EU rules, leaving the single market and the customs union.
After 47 years of stormy European integration and after four and a half years of twists and turns following the 2016 referendum, this is the culmination of Brexit, official since January 31 but with the effects postponed by a transitional period intended to cushion the shock.
"For us, this means the end of the spiteful quarrels over Europe which have poisoned our policy for so long," he pleads.
"For our friends, that certainly doesn't mean that they've lost us, let alone our appetite for their Maseratis or their Gewurtztraminer."
The sparkling "BoJo" dangled to his compatriots a new era full of promise and a reinforced 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.
The free trade agreement, without quotas or customs duties, concluded in extremis with Brussels, avoids a too abrupt break, devastating economically.
But the upheaval is real: the free movement of goods and people alike to cross the border unimpeded has ended - except between Spain and the British enclave of Gibraltar, as well as between Northern Ireland and the Republic from Ireland.
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.
- Scotland back up -
"Our Future, Our UK, Our Fate" headlined the Daily Express tabloid triumphantly on Friday, displaying an image of the Union Jack stamped with the word "FREEDOM".
"In the crisis, without fanfare, the United Kingdom is finally putting an end to the European era," notes the left-wing daily The Guardian more cautiously.
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.
In his country, Boris Johnson must turn the page of a saga that took him to the top of the political scale but has deeply divided the British.
The unity of the Kingdom is cracked, especially on the side of Scotland, which voted by a large majority to stay in the EU.
"Scotland will be back soon, Europe," tweeted Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, determined to hold another referendum on independence.
In the short term, disruptions are feared in the south of England on the roads leading to the trans-Channel ports, if the new formalities slow down traffic and lengthen the lines of trucks, especially next week.
Unlike the EU, the British government has decided to gradually implement customs controls, which will not affect all goods until July.
- Silence in Brussels -
London is leaving the single market without a word of goodbye from the EU: in Brussels, none of the leaders of the European institutions spoke within hours of the split.
"This Brexit was the child of European malaise and many lies and false promises", regretted French President Emmanuel Macron in his wishes.
In a 1,246-page deal, the EU is giving 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.
© 2021 AFP