It’s not EU, it’s me: UK files for EU divorce after 44 years

Britain filed for divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, with fond words and promises of friendship that could not disguise the historic nature of the schism — or the years of argument and hard-nosed bargaining ahead as the U.K. leaves the embrace of the bloc for an uncertain future as “global Britain.”

Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the two-year divorce process in a six-page letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, vowing that Britain will maintain a “deep and special partnership” with its neighbors in the bloc. In response, Tusk told Britain: “We already miss you.”

May’s invocation of Article 50 of the EU’s key treaty sets the clock ticking on two years of negotiations until Britain becomes the first major nation to leave the union — as Big Ben bongs midnight on March 29, 2019.

The U.K.’s departure could not come at a worse time for the EU.