Britain
launched the historic process of leaving the EU on Wednesday, saying there was
"no turning back", but its European partners were quick to warn of
the difficult path ahead.
Nine months
after the stunning vote for Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May gave EU
President Donald Tusk formal notification of Britain's intention to withdraw
from the 28-nation bloc.
The
unprecedented move, just days after the EU celebrated its 60th birthday, leaves
Britain deeply divided and has thrown a question mark over the future of the
alliance.
"This
is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back," May told
MPs, to cheers from members of her ruling Conservative party.
British
ambassador Tim Barrow delivered the letter to Tusk triggering Article 50 of the
EU's Lisbon Treaty, starting the two-year countdown to Brexit.
"We
already miss you," Tusk said in Brussels.
But French
President Francois Hollande struck a tough tone, warning that Brexit would be
"economically painful" for Britain, the first country to leave the
alliance.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel also rebuffed May's call for negotiations on Britain's
withdrawal to run alongside talks on a future trade agreement.
Britain
intends to leave Europe's single market in order to control migration, but is
hopeful a new trade deal can be struck before it leaves the EU by the latest at
midnight on March 29, 2019.
Merkel said
however that the divorce must come first -- including tough talks on Britain's
financial contributions, as well as immigration.
"Only
when this question is dealt with, can we, hopefully soon after, begin talking
about our future relationship," she said in Berlin.
The EU,
which was forged from the ashes of World War II, is determined the Brexit deal
will not encourage other countries to follow Britain out of the door.
May's
six-page letter struck a conciliatory tone and called for a "deep and
special partnership" with the bloc, which Britain joined in 1973.
But some
commentators saw a threat in her emphasis on the importance of Britain's
security ties.
She warned
that failure to reach a new trade agreement would mean "cooperation in the
fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened".
'Damage
control'
Tusk is
expected to issue draft guidelines for the negotiations on Friday, but the
leaders of the other 27 EU nations will not meet until April 29 to confirm
their joint approach.
The bloc's
priority is to maintain unity as it faces the departure of one of its largest
members, against a backdrop of crises involving migration, terrorism and the
rise of populism.
A spokesman
for US President Donald Trump, who has described the Brexit vote as
"smart", said: "We want the UK to remain a strong leader in
Europe."
But May is
battling to keep her divided nation together.
The Brexit
vote was only won by a narrow 52-48 margin and Scotland's nationalist
government is now calling for a fresh referendum on independence.
May has
said "now is not the time", even if Scotland -- and Northern Ireland
-- voted overwhelmingly to stay in the EU, but were outvoted by England and
Wales.
In
Edinburgh, 44-year-old computer consultant Mark Murphy said he had voted for
Scotland to stay a part of Britain in a 2014 referendum but might now change
his mind.
Brexit was
"probably the daftest thing we've done as a nation for my entire
life", he said.
'Implementation periods'
As with
many divorces, negotiations with the EU could rapidly turn nasty over money.
The
priority for Brussels is settling Britain's outstanding bills, estimated at
between 55 and 60 billion euros ($59-65 billion) -- an early battle that could
set the tone for the rest of the talks.
Both sides
are also keen to see a reduction in tensions in Northern Ireland, which will
have the UK's only hard border with the EU.
Many
business leaders are deeply concerned about May's decision to leave Europe's
single market, a free trade area of 500 million people that represents
Britain's largest trading partner.
The Brexit
vote sent the pound plunging and there are fears of what will happen if
negotiations end without a new trade agreement in place.
The
European Parliament's chief negotiator, Guy Verhofstadt, said any transitional
deal to work out the details of a trade agreement should be limited.
"We
propose three years," he said.
Britain's EU ambassador Tim Barrow (L) hands PM Theresa May's notice of UK's intention to leave the bloc to EU President Donald Tusk #Brexit pic.twitter.com/gjrK4nZbbM— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 29, 2017
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