Well, whether you agree with it or not, Article 50 has been triggered and the UK is officially leaving the EU.
Like any divorce process, the separation can now be amicable or hostile as the finer details and practicalities are worked through. Let’s hope it’s an amicable split…
Nobody knows how this historic situation will play out, but as Theresa May herself put it in a letter to Donald Tusk: ‘we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent’.
So, how did it all begin? Warning: potted history lesson follows:
European unity began after the Second World War, to create a climate of peace and stability.
Winston Churchill is credited as being one the ‘Founding Fathers’, although the UK did not join the union until 1973.
When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the face of Europe changed, with east and west becoming united.
The euro was introduced in 1999, with 11 countries initially adopting the single currency.
So now Article 50 has been triggered, what happens next? Well, nothing dramatic is likely to happen overnight, with two years of negotiations expected for the entire process.
Theresa May adds in her letter: “The task before us is momentous but it should not be beyond us. After all, the institutions and the leaders of the European Union have succeeded in bringing together a continent blighted by war into a union of peaceful nations, and supported the transition of dictatorships to democracy.”
Let’s just hope that the sentiments that brought Europe together in the first place are not lost along the way.
https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/history_en