May files for an EU divorce as UK move triggers years of uncertainty
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BRITAIN’S Prime Minister Theresa May will file formal Brexit divorce papers today, pitching the United Kingdom into the unknown and triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the endurance of the European Union.
Nine months after Britons voted to leave, May will notify EU Council President Donald Tusk in a letter that the UK really is quitting the club it joined in 1973.
The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, will then have two years to settle the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in March 2019.
“We stand on the threshold of a significant moment for Britain as we begin the negotiations that will lead us towards a new partnership with Europe,” May said on Monday. “We are going to take this opportunity to forge a more global Britain.”
On the eve of Brexit, May, 60, has one of the toughest jobs of any recent British prime minister: holding Britain together in the face of renewed Scottish independence demands, while conducting arduous talks with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and a host of other complex issues.
The outcome of the negotiations will shape the future of Britain’s US$2.6 trillion economy, the world’s fifth biggest, and determine whether London can keep its place as one of the top two global financial centers.
For the EU, already reeling from successive crises over debt and refugees, the loss of Britain is the biggest blow yet to 60 years of efforts to forge European unity in the wake of two devastating world wars.
Its leaders say they do not want to punish Britain. But with nationalist, anti-EU parties on the rise across the bloc, they cannot afford to give London generous terms that might encourage other member states to break away.
EU officials expect May’s notice of intention to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty to be hand-delivered by British diplomats today, when May will also speak to parliament.
The Brexit letter will seek to set a positive tone for the talks and recap 12 key points which May set out as her goals in a speech on January 17.
Within 48 hours of reading the letter, Tusk will send the 27 other states draft negotiating guidelines. He will outline his views in Malta, where he will be attending a congress of center-right leaders. Ambassadors of the 27 states will meet in Brussels to discuss Tusk’s draft.
Meanwhile, EU lawmakers want to tell Britons they can change their minds and stay in the EU.
The European Parliament is drafting a resolution to respond to May’s notice of withdrawal under Article 50. Senior lawmakers said it would stress London could still halt the process, as long as the other member states agreed.
The resolution text is not yet final but the intent is to strengthen the hand of those in Britain wanting to halt Brexit.
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