EU officially seals Brexit — via email
Yearslong saga ends rather undramatically
LONDON — The European Union gave its final, formal approval to Brexit on Thursday, clearing the way for Britain to reverse 47 years of integration with the Continent and leave the bloc on Friday night.
Following a sometimes emotional vote in the European Parliament on Wednesday, the governments of the 27 countries still in the union gave a unanimous seal of approval to Britain’s withdrawal, officially ending nearly four years of wrangling over whether, when and how it would happen.
In the end, the way the decision became final was viewed as vintage Brussels: bureaucratic and undramatic.
Diplomats from the remaining member countries were given plain instructions over email just after 8 p.m. Wednesday: Answer these four dry, procedural questions with “yes,” “no” or “abstain” and send them in an email to the European Council, which represents the 27 nations’ governments.
At 1 p.m. Thursday, the replies came in — a foregone conclusion, but the last step needed for the withdrawal agreement to take effect. All member states answered “yes” to all the questions, a European Union official said.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke this week of “the agony of parting.”
“We will always love you, and we will never be far,” she said at the last session of the European Parliament with British participation.
Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, an energetic champion of Brexit, promised a “dignified exit” that is “mindful of everybody’s feelings.”
On the biggest questions, the European Council meets in person, often with presidents and prime ministers representing their countries.
But on Thursday, it used a voteby-email process reserved for technical decisions that don’t require top officials or august gatherings. And it presented the news in what was seen as the drabbest possible language.
“The council has adopted, by written procedure, the decision on the conclusion of the withdrawal agreement on behalf of the EU,” the European Council wrote.
“The withdrawal agreement will enter into force upon the U.K.’s exit from the EU, on 31 January 2020 at midnight” in most of Europe — 11 p.m. in Britain, it added. “From that time on, the U.K. will no longer be an EU member state and will be considered as a third country.”
In Brussels, some of the next steps will be just as formal and muted, before the negotiations on
the future relationship between the European Union and Britain go into full swing.
The city of Brussels said that it would light up the Grand Place, the ornate square in the heart of the Belgian capital, on Thursday afternoon, putting on a light show with colors of the British flag to honor the departing nation. Manneken Pis, a statuette of a boy urinating that is a Brussels landmark, has been dressed up for the occasion.
British flags will be removed from EU buildings, and the EU flag will be lowered outside the British delegation’s offices, which will be renamed from “United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Union” to “United Kingdom Embassy to the European Union.”
On Saturday, the EU will be smaller — a failure for which the bloc’s leaders know they are partly to blame. The United Kingdom will no longer be part of EU summits and ministerial meetings. Its 73 EU parliamentarians have lost their jobs and cleared out their offices.
Initially, residents in the U.K. and the EU will notice few changes. Feb. 1 marks the start of a transition period until the end of the year, in which Britain will continue to follow EU rules and pay into the bloc’s coffers. People and businesses can carry on as usual while the two sides negotiate a new relationship on trade, security and a host of other issues.
Mr. Johnson insists he won’t allow the transition period to last more than 11 months and says that’s ample time to strike a free trade agreement. The EU says otherwise, pointing out that similar deals with Canada, Japan or South Korea took years, not months.
So yet again, the two sides appear on a collision course. Britain says it will not agree to follow an EU rule book in return for unfettered trade; the bloc insists there can be no trade deal unless Britain agrees to a “level playing field.”
British politicians struggled to agree on what they wanted from Brexit and what it looked like — as was made clear by Britain’s previous prime minister, Theresa May, who coined and endlessly repeated the empty phrase “Brexit means Brexit.”
Britain’s Parliament and government were riven by deep divisions over Brexit, pitting “remainers” against “leavers” and setting those who wanted a sharp break with Europe against factions favoring a softer departure or even no Brexit at all.
The EU’s 27 other nations, in contrast, knew what they wanted and stuck together, led by formidable negotiator Michel Barnier. While Britain cycled through several Brexit ministers and negotiators, Mr. Barnier remained.
The EU divorce agreement agreed upon by Ms. May immediately ran into trouble in Britain’s Parliament, where lawmakers rejected it three times.
As Britain bickered, the actual Brexit date kept getting pushed back: March 29, 2019, became Oct. 31. Ms. May fell and was replaced by Mr. Johnson, who vowed that Britain would leave the bloc at Halloween “do or die.” Again, lawmakers blocked him.
Businesses on both sides of the channel grew increasingly frustrated as officials were unable to tell them what trading conditions they would face after Brexit. The danger grew that Britain would crash out of the bloc without a Brexit deal, leaving a chaotic landscape for firms that trade between the U.K. and the EU.
In the end, sheer exhaustion helped break the logjam. Many Britons — whether they wanted to leave the EU or remain — were so exasperated by the interminable wrangling that they voted in last month’s election for the politician who promised to get it all over with: Mr. Johnson.
Armed with a big majority in Parliament, Mr. Johnson succeeded where Ms. May had failed and got Parliament to approve a rejigged EU divorce deal. Brexit was rescheduled a second time for Jan. 31 — and this time, it’s for real.