yes it's time to say goodbye but even though the divorce is final the terms of yet to be decided i'm. this is the day. the sun rises tomorrow. for our union of 27 we'll start. our experience has. that. splendid isolation in our. last hours of britain's membership of the european union after formally leaving the block at

midnight brussels time. transition begins on saturday officials will then have to start negotiating a new relations between the blocs former 2nd largest economy and the remaining 27 nations in britain the matter is still divisive. tomorrow they'll be one fewer. the british will no longer fly at the european parliament. staged a special departure from the building. they've achieved their political goal. the war. there's now a battle for the shape of our relationship with the european union the shape of a roll if you like with the rest of the world but this is the moment. if. european leaders acknowledge that after that the relationship with the u.k.

will be different. we are sending a message that is extremely clear simple and strong we the european union hope and want to keep the closest possible relationship with the united kingdom. but of course we must be clear on the subject. the more the u.k. decides to divert from european standards the less access the u.k. will have to the single market. everyone will be affected although they differ on how much it will matter. is our independence that we're here to get our country back so we boated remain but now it's here we have no choice so we're going to get behind day and we're just going to carry on as as normal and we trade with the you as a business so we've just got to find a way to do it get through this. for everybody. in

england. neulander we're hearing from. everybody in each country and there is a real back with me for the u.k. i'm very sad about to say it's just a change there's no sort of rationing we will do something that we want. we want to do i think. and then look forward this is just the start of it this is a trial run because the worst day will be after the transition to the 31st of december will actually be far worse than today. for now some a literally dancing in the streets celebrating the departure of the british front from european senses of power and its return home. as a member of the european parliament representing london for the next hour or so as a member of the u.k. center left liberal democrat party both british and german citizenship and joins us

from london welcome to day w how are you feeling as perhaps it approaches. good evening it's very loud here in parliament square many people are celebrating many more are mourning tonight i am not celebrating this is a very sad day for britain it's a very sad day. for europe but of course i'm in the minority here in parliament square i have lost my job today but more importantly europe has lost one of its most important partners and britain has lost its most important trading partner in europe so not a good day for me but it caused to celebrate for many others which of course i acknowledge. the prime minister world so they call for people to pull together. given that you lost the argument and we are where we are what can you as a politician do to help. heal the divisions that have been so evident over the last

3 years. there is a lot of work to do for us here firstly i want to continue working on the u.k. e.u. friendship we have started this work and the european parliament we're going to continue here in britain there is also a lot to do as you rightly say to heal the division in this society which has led to the practice it decision the causes for this decision of a not to be found in europe a very much to be found here in britain and the divisions here are very much the same that we see in germany in other countries across the globe the united states and elsewhere we need to work very hard to close these divisions otherwise we will never be able to rejoin and of course this is my great hope one day we will pave the way to reach our you so you say you have to work very hard to heal those divisions what do you think you need to do.

but i think 1st of all we have to listen we have to listen to the people here in parliament square we have to listen to the many who voted to leave although we know that that is not the majority anymore there was a reason for this and we need to work with these people and not against them secondly we need to talk to people that feel disenfranchised. sized and not listened to and the many who were left out by a sterritt see who were left out by the conservative government over the last decade and we need to start working with them and not against them so this is that sounds like a job for government so you're going to be supporting the conservative government in its efforts to try and heal these divisions. so you can you repeat it it's very loud here in the background ok so the liberal democrats are not in power the conservatives are in power the things that you outlined that those of jobs for

a government to do so does that mean that you will be supporting the conservative government in its efforts to heal those divisions. we will be supporting any government that will work with e.u. to come to not only a comprehensive trade agreement but 2 in agreement of working together as closely as possible i have my doubts whether this will be possible with the current government as an opposition politician i will work with the liberal democrats but also with civil society who will have to play a very important role in these future relationships we are thinking about citizens and families with thinking about it and either u.k. friendship group which will be cross party and a cultural friendship group between our nations so is it the case then that you are working towards a possible referendum in the future about rejoining the e.u. . we will

eventually need to pay for the past to be joining but i am not naive i don't think this is a matter of 5 years itself firstly we need to rebuild our reputation in europe secondly we need to show that there is still and will be an increasing probably european majority of british people here and why it doesn't seem like this tonight i'm sure this will become evident over the next few years but we also need as as we said earlier we need to heal the divisions in the society this is a long term project and which way we will rejoin eventually whether this will be by another referendum or in some other way it remains to be seen the process long but i know that we will get there eventually. boris johnson the british prime minister said that he wants to complete trade negotiations with. within a year is

a possible. no i think it is extremely unlikely and we have to remember that a comprehensive trade agreement kind of the for example took over 10 years to complete now boris johnson the fact if he has less than 8 months because the deal would have to be ratified that is virtually impossible what he may be aiming for is some form of piecemeal solution i think that is not going to be realistic that will not be acceptable to the e.u. member states who have very clearly said that we need to have an in or out solution with regards to the customs union and the single market we conscious cherrypick unless we have an extension of the transition period i think it is very likely that in december of this year we will end up in the same situation that we had end of october last year which is at the edge of a no deal apis thank you for joining us on the visa of the european parliament.

well even though the u.k. leaves the e.u. tonight they will as you've just heard still be an 11 month transition period during that time most people will notice little changes tough negotiations regarding the u.k. future relationship with the e.u. begin. it's a race against time. the u.k. and the e.u. have until the end of 2022 to find their new post breaks that relationship and there's still a long way to go so one of the issues that need sorting trade is the biggest one i thank her the trade relation between the 2 how are we going to trade with each other are we going to have tariffs or are we not going to have types in the way that we exchange goods and services that's going to be i think the biggest thing to do a successful outcome on this key issue will depend on the u.k. agreeing to the e.u.'s calls for a level playing field the e.u. wants the u.k. to stick to e.u. rules out of fear that the u.k.

will lower its standards or profit from unfair advantages but for british negotiators being freed of rules is one of the main drivers for bracks it so talks will be tough in my view there e.u. has a symmetrically bigger power when it comes to when it comes to trade each country the you would be using one market the u.k. would be losing $27.00 markets. there is one element where i think the u.k. has got perhaps more of a say that is in the financial markets and that is basically london this city has served as a major financial hub for the whole of the e.u. as the e.u. doesn't want to lose that expertise the u.k. could cuse the city of london as a bargaining chip in the negotiations and then there's the issue of fishing rights that could be a stumbling stone on the bumpy road to bracks it taking back control of british waters was a key bracks a campaign pledge but the u.k. may have to compromise if it doesn't want the issue to scupper chances of

finalizing a deal with the e.u. the u.k. leaving a my view was unjustified and therefore i believe that he's going to be at an economic cost for the u.k. so the closer we can keep when it comes down to the way we do trade for example the better it's going to be for both of us it's going to be an extremely tight race to get things done by the end of the year. while the head of the european commission. has been speaking with a brussels. some say the hardest part will start now on the go sharing future relationship between the e.u. and the u.k. . what it's going to be hard and fair and fast negotiations and it's true i mean now that the u.k. has chosen to be a 3rd country we have to figure out how close do they want to be to the single market the closer they want to be the more they have to abide to the common rules

of the single market so it's more or less their choice whether they want to be distant the access of the single market will be difficult or the other way around u.k. prime minister boris johnson said under no circumstances will he extend the transition period meaning that if there is no agreement at the end of this year there will be a hard drugs do you think that's a smart political move by well it's his decision but if that's what if it if it at the end of the year if this is the case we're well prepared because the most tricky parts for us have been solved in the withdrawal agreement citizens why it's a financial settlement the island of ireland with done that we are fine with that now we are in a very strong position for the upcoming negotiations if at the end of the year there will be a hard break sit well the u.k. exports almost half of all it's good to the european union so it's going to be tough but do you think you boxed himself in and you as a politician would you have made well i do not have to advise him what to do i

think what we will do as a european union we will look at where we stand in summer and then decide but even if at the end of the year we do not have an agreement yes there will be a hard but the negotiations can go on now you're going to negotiate a free trade agreement most likely or try to negotiate a free trade agreement with the u.k. can you definitively say that one year to negotiate a free trade agreement is not enough. it's not only the free trade it will. and there are least 10 or 11 different files and topics think about security for example so there's a lot to negotiate and therefore will will work 247 and let's see how things are moving forward you would you know 'd 'd under normal circumstances something like that has never go shoot in this short time well i said in this fully that i think we will need more time but for this decision it always needs to and we are pretty

relaxed on that question because as i said we have a good position and commission president joseph runs on talking to right into his brussels bureau chief. so let's take a look at the path ahead with understand alex forrest whiting here with me in the studio and in a brussels we have correspondents ago matter so welcome both and let's start with you gayle the process of actually getting here getting to withdraw was bad enough with bad feeling generated in brussels and in london and he goes your actions on the future relationship likely to be as bloody. i'm afraid phil the answer is it is very likely that they will be bloody and difficult as well as you have pointed out the divorce agreement has already been difficult and i lately said to a colleague slinking back on the past 3 years and all the packages and reports and topics we have covered and i had the feeling that

a lot of these issues are still on the table yes we have a divorce agreement with a political declaration that sort of pinpoints an idea of what we can get but if you take a simple example in that political declaration it says a close relationship is desired and both sides have said we don't want to slap taxes on each other but then the us also made clear that if they do not tax u.k. products those products coming onto the european market have. after except a level playing field in other words they have to accept the standards of the european union so that rules out any tax haven model and in singapore on thames that rules out any great state subsidies for british companies for a nissen in sunderland producing cars for the european market and it really undermines this idea of many breaks a tears that they could make this speedboat that competes with europe while europe

makes clear we have our rules and if you want to do our internal market you have to play by those rules so let's look at the issue of a level playing field with alex forrest why i think that this is going to be an important plank of these negotiations alex does boris johnson's government looks like it wants to play ball on this level playing field i think the answer to that at the moment is no and we had the finance minister minister such a job in a recent interview saying that there would be no alignment he then backtracked tibet and said that there would be no alignment for the sake of it but i think it's very clear that the british government under boris johnson won't want to be seen to be taking back control they do not want to be seen as the rule take is they want. to be seen as pushing ahead with global britain which have a global britain is but keogh gets right there is a problem here because if the u.k. wants that free trade agreement with the e.u. which whatever they say they desperately do need they are going to have to make

some compromises over various issues so although they're fighting strong saying we're going to take for example british waters because it's about fishing they do know that if they do want to protect the car industry in sunderland where many people voted for brics it for boris johnson there is going to have to be some kind of alignment otherwise there are going to be more terrorists and there will be trade barriers back in place and these negotiations between the u.k. and the e.u. the prime minister has instructed in law that they must be done within a year what does this tell us it tells us that boris johnson is very very. keen to commit to his promise that brics it is happening obviously tonight but also that it will be finished in the 11 month period now we also know with boris johnson that you can't take everything that he says as verbatim let's think about his his promise to die in

a ditch if bracks it doesn't happen on the 31st of october last year well it didn't happen and boris johnson didn't die in a ditch but i think that he needs to show his supporters and the rest of the world that the u.k. is serious about this he does have until june to say whether he would like to extend that transition period of 11 months i personally don't think he will but i do think that 11 months as everybody has been saying it's not long to get a decent trade deal so if there is one of tall it will be very bad bones. most often characterized as. a human but often have a lot of supporters who group around not. i think it is seeing if you look at it from that way it is france and germany who will be missing britain most after all those were the 3 countries that shared a lot of ideals. i don't think you have such

a dynamic here on all kinds of issues but one thing is clear britain was an important member it was an atomic power it was a member of nato it was one of the net contributors to the e.u. budget so a lot of a lot of countries no doubt will be missing britain and that is why they have complained for a long time that they should remain and today are on this day i just witnessed the british flag going down outside the european parliament and a number of people told me it's a really sad day from the perspective of brussels and with britain now gone does this mean that the proponents of deeper european integration will have a free hand. i think that has already happened from the from the perspective of brussels that britain has already left some time ago ever been the press a letter appeared here in brussels and brussels was quick off the mark to make reforms where britain britain has been dragging their heels

a take for instance defense so great greater defense union has already been forged and put put on the way so a number of projects where britain used to be completely against it saying that this was a straight create structures that are parallel to nato we already have nato we don't want to weaken that construct that has already happened and i think what you will see in the future now is a lot of those things where were britain did. did did not want to participate in that way and used their veto in order to stop it changes where you will see a lot of other a lot more movement forward and a mix so. now where does britain go what is what is what is the what is the british vision for a post present future it's a very good question we know that it's global britain but what is global britain what is the give case foreign policy going to look like i think it's going to be complicated because although they the u.k.

wants to say that it can stand alone it's regained its sovereignty it's free from the shackles of the e.u. the the reality of the world is that we have a strong us a strong china a strong e.u. which way is the u.k. going to turn and that is the question that boris johnson is going to have to answer over the next few months brooks's a list alex forrest watching thank you in the brussels correspondent go matters thank you as well. well throughout the process much of the focus has been on london but bret's it is going to affect everyone in the u.k. a sub more than others in the very southern tip of england just a few kilometers from france across the dover straits liason margarets at the cliffs a small village that has benefitted from its geographical and political proximity to mainland europe but from tomorrow may well change. nestled among the white cliffs of dover

a small pick to rescue english village located about 30 kilometers across the channel from france st margaret's up cliff has had a long and special relationship with continental europe totally dependent on one another. and i don't think they can do without we cannot do without them. despite the close relationship over 60 percent of the towns and habitants voted leave in the 2016 breck's it's referendum and some people in the area say that they are really worried about what brics it will mean for business market this time of year especially in the fabry march time is usually the european market we have got show galchen stemmons and they have this spring holidays and i come here last year we did ok this year it's looking pretty bleak. in this bar residents say they're relieved that at long last breaths it is finally

happening before the 2 are usually cover spirit lost 3. people in the rig shipped to democratic sure of the river in the region to try to do the trick to try to win the minute. to stop it from happening. however some are not ruling out that one day britain could rejoin the e.u. enjoying what you were all divorces for people meet up with the next 24 years were also killed. lewis has battled passionately that mission the reason we might be back was maybe one in a different form 50 is room in the same but it's an interesting so what we really see them pushing. for now britain is preparing for a life outside of the european union and the tide is changing in st margaret's at clips from. well that is almost done but the conversation continues online you can find us on twitter. user you can follow me. don't forget to use the hash tag the

day leave you now with images from brussels and london as the u.k. pass to leave the european union.

this is it breaks it is really how many great britain is leaving the european union just 3 years out of tough negotiations deeply divided country. much more for future generations from a. time to say good bye to our breaks that special edition. in 15 minutes on d w. i think it's everything challenging 1st

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