British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after signing the post-Brexit deal. – CHINA NEW / SIPA
Turning its back on nearly half a century in the European fold, the United Kingdom began this Friday, its new life after Brexit, without immediate disruptions but with many unknowns. Great architect of Brexit, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised in the Daily Telegraph “A year of change and hope”, four and a half years after the referendum that tore the UK apart, praising the free trade agreement concluded just before Christmas with Brussels.
Nearly 200 trucks have also used the Channel Tunnel
On Friday morning, as the first ferries left for France, the English port of Dover remained calm, without the traffic jams so dreaded after the United Kingdom left the single market and the customs union, and the entry into force of new formalities on both sides of the Channel. Nearly 200 trucks have also used the Channel Tunnel at night, “without any problem” despite the re-establishment of customs formalities, according to its operator Getlink.
If the trade agreement concluded in extremis with Brussels does not provide for quotas or customs duties and avoids a devastating “no deal”, the upheaval is real. Free movement of goods and people alike to cross the border unimpeded has ceased – except between Spain and the British enclave of Gibraltar, as well as between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Champion of free trade.
Despite these new constraints with the main market of the United Kingdom, the conservative Boris Johnson dangled to his compatriots a new era full of promise and a strengthened place in the world for his country, as champion of free trade. With the presidency of the G7 and the organization of the great COP26 climate conference this year, 2021 will be “a very important year” for the influence of the United Kingdom, he assured on Twitter.
There will be plenty who will be only too happy to say goodbye to the grimness of 2020.
But this was also the year when we rediscovered a spirit of togetherness, of community.
In 2021 we have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it. Happy New Year! pic.twitter.com/gDRXe2SuCb
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 31, 2020
In the immediate future, it is a country gravely bereaved by the pandemic – more than 73,500 dead, one of the worst results in Europe – and struck by its worst economic crisis in three centuries which has left European orbit. Boris Johnson must also turn the page on a stormy saga that took him to the top of the political scale, but tore the British apart. The unity of the Kingdom is cracked, in particular on the side of Scotland which voted by a large majority to stay in the EU and dreams of independence.
Towards disruptions in ports?
And if calm reigns Friday, disruptions around the ports are anticipated with the resumption of activity at full speed next week, if the new formalities slow down traffic and lengthen the lines of trucks.
Thus, the port of Holyhead, an important terminal in Wales, near Ireland, could experience “delays over the next few weeks,” warned the Welsh road information center on Twitter. Six loads were refused there on Friday because they were not in order.
“We are now going to see the € 80 billion of trade across the Irish Sea between the UK and Ireland disrupted by a lot more checks and declarations, bureaucracy and red tape, and costs and delays ”, regretted the head of Irish diplomacy, Simon Coveney, on the BBC.
Unlike the EU, the British government has decided to gradually implement customs controls, which will not affect all goods until July. To avoid any unfair competition, the free trade agreement also provides for sanctions and compensatory measures in the event of non-compliance with its rules on state aid, the environment, labor law and taxation. .
