Brexit at last: UK set to leave EU

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the European Union are ready on Friday to take off their wedding rings as the appointed hour of Brexit looms over London and Brussels.

It is a somber divorce for many, as millions of Brits who really wished to remain part of the bloc will be left heartbroken.

It is though a joyous occasion for millions of Leave-supporting Brits as they are ready to celebrate the separation.

But whatever your chosen side, one fact stands clear: The split is certain and it is happening tonight.

When the clocks strike 11 p.m. (2300GMT) in London or midnight in Brussels, the U.K.-EU partnership will be done and dusted in technical terms.

Some three-and-a-half years after a majority of Britons decided to pack their bags, as it were, the result of the June 2016 referendum is becoming a reality.

However, Brexit is not really a full end of the marriage, one where the parties will not see or talk to each other ever again.

Britain and the EU will have to sit around the table to shape the post-marital finances or in more technical terms, the new trade partnership.

Those talks will continue until the end of 2020, and what shape the new trade deal will take is to be seen then.

- What changes tonight?

Technically, nothing is changing apart from the U.K. becoming a non-EU country.

Trade will continue until the end of the transition period as usual, as if the U.K. were still a member state.

Free movement will also continue through the end of the year, as passports holders from 27 member states and the U.K. will not need any visa for travels across the EU or to the U.K.

- New beginning

However, British representatives will be no longer hold their seats in the European Parliament and Euratom (European Atomic Energy Community), and decisions of the European Court of Justice will be no longer binding on Britain.

The U.K. will be free to discuss new trade deals with all countries. A deal with the U.S. has been on the agenda for some time, but it will also be watched very closely by the opposition as there is great sensitivity to some potential items on the table, including healthcare services and some American products having lower standards than Europeans.

A new point-based immigration system will also be introduced, the government pledges.

Three million new 50p coins commemorating this historic day of Brexit will be entering circulation today.

The message on those coins will be: “Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations.”

In an address to nation set to air an hour before the split, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will describe Brexit as a “moment of real national renewal and change.”

The moment will be marked by street parties by Leave campaigners, and Britain’s voyage into the unknown future shall begin Saturday morning.