At midnight Paris time on December 31, 2020, the UK officially leaves the EU at the end of the transition period, ending its 47-year membership in the EU. The UK also becomes the first member state to leave the EU.
The negotiations for the transitional trade agreement were dramatic. On behalf of the EU, European Council President Michel and European Commission President von der Leyen signed the agreement reached recently with the UK on future relations in Brussels on the 30th. The agreement was then sent to the United Kingdom, where it was signed by British Prime Minister Johnson in London. The British House of Lords approved the agreement late on the 30th, after the British House of Commons had previously voted 521 to 73 to pass the deal.
Hours before the end of the Brexit transition period, British Prime Minister Johnson said in his New Year’s message that this is a remarkable moment. We have our freedom. Now it’s up to us to see if we will play to the factors that will benefit us post-Brexit.
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and most of the diaspora living in other EU countries have reservations about Brexit. How to integrate a post-Brexit broken Britain is the heavy task before Johnson.
Johnson said in his New Year’s message that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the island of Great Britain will come together; together for the world. Together we will build an open, generous, open-door Britain that embraces internationalism and free trade.
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