The United Kingdom leaves the European Union on Friday with a mixture of joy, anger and indifference, casting off into the unknown in one of the biggest blows yet to Europe’s attempt to forge unity from the ruins of World War Two.
The EU’s most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, cast Brexit - due at 2300 GMT - as a sad moment that was a turning point for Europe. The EU warned that leaving would be worse than staying.
In the United Kingdom’s most significant geopolitical move since its lost its empire, it turns its back on 47 years of membership and must begin charting its own course for generations to come.
At the stroke of midnight in Brussels, the EU will lose 15 percent of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world’s international financial capital - London.
Brexit supporters burned an EU flag outside Downing Street, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson lives. Some EU supporters were mocked by a larger group of Brexiteers nearby chanting “Bye-bye EU” and “Shame on you” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.
“This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act,” said Johnson, one of the leaders of the “Leave” campaign in the 2016 referendum. “It is a moment of real national renewal and change.”
Johnson planned to celebrate with English sparkling wine and a distinctly British array of canapés including Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings with beef and horseradish.
In Brussels, the European Union’s flag was removed from outside the British embassy. The official symbol of the EU, a circle of 12 stars on a blue background, was pulled in, leaving only Britain’s Union Jack flying on the flagpole.
Leaving the EU was once far-fetched: the UK joined in 1973 as “the sick man of Europe” and less than two decades ago British leaders were arguing about whether to join the euro.
But the turmoil of the euro zone crisis, fears about mass immigration and a series of miscalculations by former Prime Minister David Cameron prompted the 52 percent to 48 percent vote to leave.

Britain cuts loose from EU with delight, anger and indifference

EU Council staff members remove the United Kingdom’s flag from the European Council building in Brussels on Brexit Day, on January 31, 2020. (AFP)
Reuters, London
Friday 31 January 2020
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 10:01 - GMT 07:01
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