Elizabeth II signed the Brexit law. Is that all?! The shortest answer

No, this is not the end. Now the law must be ratified by the European Parliament, but this will most likely happen early next week. Then, on January 31, the UK will formally leave the EU — Brexit will take place. But until the end of 2020, it will remain in the European single market and customs union, meaning almost nothing will change. During this time, the parties will negotiate a new trade agreement. And experts are quite pessimistic: it usually takes the EU five years to sign a free trade agreement with someone. If no agreement is reached, then there will be a no-deal exit on January 1, 2021. In this case, the situation in Northern Ireland will be settled (this is in the agreement signed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the EU in the fall), but everyone else will not. And if the negotiations stall, the British government can ask for another delay of a year or two by the end of June. However, Johnson has already promised not to do this under any circumstances. In short, this will be a long time.

Dmitry Kartsev

Photo in the announcement: Will Oliver / EPA / Scanpix / LETA