La Grande-Bretagne achève une rupture économique formelle avec l'Union européenne

LONDRES (AP) - Le divorce long et parfois acrimonieux de la Grande-Bretagne avec l'Union européenne s'est terminé jeudi par une scission économique qui laisse l'UE plus petite et le Royaume-Uni plus libre mais plus isolé dans un monde agité.

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        Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time, midnight in Brussels, completing the biggest single economic change the country has experienced since World War II. A different U.K.-EU trade deal will bring new restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules.

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        Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped push the country out of the EU, called it “an amazing moment for this country.”

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«Nous avons notre liberté entre nos mains, et c'est à nous d'en tirer le meilleur parti», a-t-il déclaré dans un message vidéo du Nouvel An.

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        The break comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left the two sides in the limbo of a “transition period” — like a separated couple still living together, wrangling and wondering whether they can remain friends. Now the U.K. has finally moved out.

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C'était un jour que certains attendaient et que d'autres redoutaient depuis que la Grande-Bretagne a voté lors d'un référendum en 2016 pour quitter l'UE, mais cela s'est avéré être une sorte d'anticlimax. Les mesures de verrouillage britanniques pour freiner le coronavirus ont réduit les rassemblements de masse pour célébrer ou pleurer le moment, bien qu'une poignée de partisans du Brexit aient défié les restrictions pour porter un toast devant le Parlement alors que la cloche de Big Ben sonnait 11 fois à l'heure.

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Un accord de libre-échange scellé la veille de Noël après des mois de négociations tendues garantit que la Grande-Bretagne et les 27 pays de l'UE peuvent continuer à acheter et à vendre des produits sans tarifs ni quotas. Cela devrait aider à protéger les 660 milliards de livres (894 milliards de dollars) d'échanges annuels entre les deux parties et les centaines de milliers d'emplois qui en dépendent.

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        But companies face sheaves of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border checks. Traders are struggling to digest the new rules imposed by the 1,200-page trade deal.

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        The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel passenger and freight route braced for delays as the new measures were introduced, though the pandemic and a holiday weekend meant cross-Channel traffic was light, with only a trickle of trucks arriving at French border posts in Calais as 2020 ended. The vital supply route was snarled for days after France closed its border to U.K. truckers for 48 hours last week in response to a fast-spreading variant of the virus identified in England.

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Le gouvernement britannique a insisté sur le fait que «les systèmes frontaliers et l'infrastructure dont nous avons besoin sont en place et nous sommes prêts pour le nouveau départ du Royaume-Uni».

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        But freight companies were holding their breath. Youngs Transportation in the U.K. suspended services to the EU until Jan. 11 “to let things settle.”

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        “We figure it gives the country a week or so to get used to all of these new systems in and out, and we can have a look and hopefully resolve any issues in advance of actually sending our trucks,” said the company's director, Rob Hollyman.

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        The services sector, which makes up 80% of Britain’s economy, does not even know what the rules will be for business with the EU in 2021. Many of the details have yet to be hammered out. Months and years of further discussion and argument  over everything from fair competition to fish quotas lie ahead as Britain and the EU settle into their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.

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        Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives. Britons and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in the other’s territory. From now on, they will have to follow immigration rules and obtain work visas. Tourists face new headaches including from travel insurance and pet paperwork.

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        For some in Britain, including the prime minister, it’s a moment of pride and a chance for the U.K. to set new diplomatic and economic priorities. Johnson said the U.K. was now “free to do trade deals around the world, and free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.”

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        Conservative lawmaker Bill Cash, who has campaigned for Brexit for decades, said it was a “victory for democracy and sovereignty.”

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        That’s not a view widely shared across the Channel. In the French president’s traditional New Year’s address, Emmanuel Macron expressed regret.

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        “The United Kingdom remains our neighbor but also our friend and ally,” he said. “This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.”

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        The divorce could also have major constitutional repercussions for the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland, which shares a border with EU member Ireland, remains more closely tied to the bloc’s economy under the divorce terms, a status that could pull it away from the rest of the U.K.

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        In Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain, Brexit has bolstered support for separation from the U.K. The country’s pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.”

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        Many in Britain felt apprehension about a leap into the unknown that is taking place during a pandemic that has upended life around the world.

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        “I feel very sad that we’re leaving,” said Jen Pearcy-Edwards, a filmmaker in London. “I think that COVID has overshadowed everything that is going on. But I think the other thing that has happened is that people feel a bigger sense of community, and I think that makes it even sadder that we’re breaking up our community a bit, by leaving our neighbours in Europe.

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        “I’m hopeful that we find other ways to rebuild ties,” she said.

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        Associated Press writers Renee Graham in London and John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, contributed to this report.

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