LONDON (AP) — Britons counted down the hours Friday to their country’s departure from the European Union — some joyous, some sad, many just hopeful the divorce would mark the end of an anguished chapter in their country’s history.
The U.K. officially departed the EU at 11 p.m. local time, (5 p.m. CST). The move comes 3½ years after the country voted by a margin of 52%-48% to walk away from the club that it had joined in 1973.
Throughout the day, bands of ardent Brexit backers draped in Union Jack flags gathered outside Parliament in London to celebrate, their numbers growing and volume increasing as the time grew closer. Nearby, pro-Europeans waving the bloc’s blue and yellow flag came to commiserate.
Whether Brexit makes Britain a proud nation that has reclaimed its sovereignty, or a diminished presence in Europe and the world, will be debated for years to come.
The now 27-member EU will have to bounce back from one of its biggest setbacks in its 62-year history to confront an ever more complicated world as its former member becomes a competitor, just across the English Channel.
While Britain’s exit is a historic moment, it only marks the end of the first stage of the Brexit saga. When Britons wake up on Saturday, they will notice very little change. The U.K. and the EU have given themselves an 11-month “transition period” — in which the U.K. will continue to follow the bloc’s rules — to strike new agreements on trade, security and a host of other areas.
French President Emmanuel Macron called Brexit a “historic alarm signal” that should force the EU to improve itself.
“It’s a sad day, let’s not hide it,” he said in a televised address. “But it is a day that must also lead us to do things differently.”
Inside the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Britain’s flag was quietly removed from the group of member flags, a moment that was not observed by any of the bloc’s leaders. An official simply folded it and walked away.
The EU flag and Union Jack were also lowered outside Britain’s EU office. Starting Saturday, it will become an embassy, with just the British flag flying.
It’s the first time a country has left the EU, and many in the bloc rued the day. In Brussels, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen lamented that “as the sun rises tomorrow a new chapter for our union of 27 will start.”
But she warned Brexit day would mark a major loss for the U.K. and said the island nation was heading for a lonelier existence.
“Strength does not lie in splendid isolation, but in our unique union,” she said. Newspapers across the continent were marking the departure with headlines of “Adieu to Europe” and “Bye-Bye!” next to a Union Jack flag.
Symbolically, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a Cabinet meeting in the pro-Brexit town of Sunderland in northeast England, rather than in London.
In a pre-recorded address to the country to be broadcast an hour before Britain’s exit, Johnson will say it was “not an end but a beginning.” His office said he will describe it as “a moment of real national renewal and change.”
In a break with usual practice, independent media outlets were not allowed to film Johnson’s speech, which the government recorded Thursday at 10 Downing St.
