When this post is published, the United Kingdom will have left the European Union after 47 years. I am saddened by this, but not really surprised. It could have happened at the first appointed time, being 29 March 2019 - but politics stood in the way. Today is sad day, as one of my contacts put it. A transition period commences, which expires on 31 December 2020. That is the date when Brexit gets cemented in tablets of stone, and becomes scary. Eleven months is very little time to come to formal agreements, to take the place what is no longer possible through the cessation of EU membership. So much is yet unclear - so little time to clarify.
The European Union is a flawed organisation, too large, too bureaucratic and not fit for the purpose for which it was set up back in 1957. I hope some lessons have been learned from the departure of the United Kingdom, always a reluctant and recalcitrant member. Some people in the UK are rejoicing today; some are saddened. The three million EU nationals are anxious, as their fate remains unclear. The one million UK nationals in EU states are equally anxious, for the same reason. We'll know more come 2021.
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