THE UK Leaves the EU
At 23:00 hours GMT today, January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) will leave the European Union (EU) thereby fulfilling Brexit, which the people of the Kingdom approved by referendum back in 2016. Members in the EU will now number 27 upon the British withdrawal.
Earlier this week, the European Parliament voted 621 for, 49 against, and with 13 abstentions, to approve the plan for the UK to leave the behemoth economic pact today at midnight Brussels time or 23:00 GMT. After tonight, the UK will go through an 11-month transition period of weaning from the EU - a time, when the former member and its former partners would attempt to secure trade and other deals.
And so it has come to pass that after 46-years of membership in the EU, the UK has voted to stand alone. It will stand alone, though still friendly with the rest of Europe, but having the same non supranational feelings it exhibited decades-ago that delayed its membership into the old original European Coal and Steel Community - the forerunner of the EU having as founders: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.
That there has been a peaceful relationship between the British and the rest of Europe under the relationship of the EU for so long is a testament to the economic power of the EU pact. The British change of heart to join the European pact only came about after four-fold economic gains were realized by the group.
The UK first petitioned for membership into the pact in 1961, but France's Charles de Gaulle, citing the British "deep-seated hostility" towards the European project, vetoed the British aspiration in 1963 and again in 1967. Following de Gaulle's resignation from the helms of France, the UK was able to ascend to membership into the EU on January 1, 1973 and after such a trying entry, the UK suffered a change of heart over supranational matters and opted to leave via a short-margin referendum vote in 2016. Now Brexit is a reality.
A history of empire and influence, pillaged riches and an often under respected relationship with Commonwealth members, will contribute to insulating the UK from any catastrophic downturn because of Brexit. Yet, a looming global economic slowdown fueled by unenthusiastic economic numbers in Europe, the Novel Coronavirus in China, uncertainty in the United States (US), the continuity of conflict in the Middle East and developing conditions in Africa and Latin America, could bring Brexit regrets to the UK.