LONDON (AP) – A steady stream of trucks left ferries and trains on both sides of the English Channel on Friday, a peaceful New Year’s day after an overnight seismic shift in relations between the European Union and Great Britain -Brittany.
The busy freight route between southeastern England and northwest France is at the forefront of change, now that the UK has completely abandoned the 27-nation bloc’s economic embrace, the final stage of Brexit.
“For most trucks, they won’t even notice the difference,” said John Keefe, a spokesman for Eurotunnel, which transports vehicles under the Canal. “There was always a risk that if this happened at a busy time, we might encounter some difficulties, but it is happening overnight on a bank holiday and a long weekend.”
Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 pm London time, midnight in Brussels on Thursday, in the biggest economic change the country has experienced since World War II. . A new trade agreement between the UK and the EU will bring new restrictions and bureaucracy, but for British Brexit advocates, that means claiming EU national independence and its web of rules.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped push the country out of the EU, said it was “an incredible time for this country”.
“We have our freedom in our hands and it’s up to us to make the most of it,” he said in a New Year video message.
The historic moment passed quietly, with the UK’s blockade measures against coronavirus reducing mass meetings to celebrate or mourn. Brexit, which has dominated public debate in Britain for years, has even been pushed off the front pages of some newspapers with the news of the huge vaccination effort against COVID-19.
In the quiet streets of London – which voted strongly to remain in the EU at Britain’s 2016 accession referendum – there was little enthusiasm for Brexit.
“I think it’s a disaster, among many disasters this year,” said Matt Steel, a doctor. “It is a bad business. I don’t really see any positive aspect of it, to be honest. “
The rupture comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left both sides in limbo in a “transition period” in which EU rights and rules continued to apply to Britain.
The commercial agreement sealed on Christmas Eve, after months of tense negotiations, ensures that both parties can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. But companies face a host of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border controls.
The Dover port on the English Channel and the Eurotunnel faced delays as new measures were introduced.
The vital supply route was blocked for days after France closed its border with UK truck drivers for 48 hours last week in response to a rapidly spreading strain of the virus identified in England.
The pandemic and a holiday weekend meant that traffic across the Channel was weak on Friday. Britain has also postponed the imposition of full customs checks for several months so that companies can adjust.
The British government insisted that “the border systems and infrastructure we need are in place and we are ready for the UK’s new start”.
New controls have also been implemented across the Irish Sea. A dozen trucks left the first ferry to reach the Port of Dublin in Wales before dawn, releasing new customs inspections without delay.
“We avoid the kind of dramatic breakdown of a Brexit without a trade deal, but that does not mean that things are not fundamentally changing, because they are,” said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.
“Now we will see the 80 billion euros ($ 97 billion) in trade in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland interrupted by many more checks and declarations, red tape and paperwork, as well as costs and delays.”
Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc are also facing changes in their daily lives, with new rules for work visas, travel insurance and pet paperwork.
And months and years of discussion and discussion lie ahead, on everything from fair competition to fishing quotas, as Britain and the EU establish themselves in their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.
Brexit may also have major constitutional repercussions for the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland, which borders EU member Ireland, remains more connected to the bloc’s economy under the terms of the divorce. Thus, while goods continue to flow freely across Ireland’s land border, there will be new procedures for trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. In the long run, this could drive Northern Ireland away from the rest of the UK and towards the neighboring south.
In Scotland, which voted strongly to stay in 2016, Brexit has stepped up support for the UK’s split. The country’s pro-independence prime minister, Nicola Sturgeon, tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on. “
European leaders, whose patience with Britain ran out during the Brexit melodrama years, expressed regret at the departure of the United Kingdom and anger at the forces that drove it.
“The United Kingdom remains our neighbor, but also our friend and ally,” said French President Emmanuel Macron in his New Year’s speech to the nation. “This choice to leave Europe, this Brexit, was the result of European malaise and many lies and false promises.”
___
Jo Kearney in Folkestone, England, contributed to this story.
______
Follow all AP stories on Brexit at https://apnews.com/Brexit