Local Editor

The United Kingdom filed for divorce from the European Union [EU] on Wednesday, overturning four decades of integration with its neighbors, demolishing the notion that EU expansion is inevitable and shaking the foundations of a bloc that is facing challenges to its identity and its place in the world.

Britain's top envoy to the EU, Tim Barrow, hand-delivered a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk formally triggering a two-year countdown to the final split.

"Today the government acts on the democratic will of the British people." Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers in the House of Commons, adding, "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."

Tusk tweeted that "after nine months the UK has delivered," followed by a photo of Barrow handing him the letter in front of British and EU flags in Brussels.

There is "no reason to pretend this is a happy day," Tusk said during a speech later, emphasizing that the priority now is to minimize costs for EU citizens and member states.

But for Britons who voted 52 to 48 percent to leave the bloc in a referendum nine months ago, it was a time for celebration.

"In my opinion, this is the greatest moment in modern British history," said Brendan Chilton, general secretary of the pro-Brexit group Labor Leave. "We are finally beginning the process by which we leave the European Union, restore our Parliament and once again become a sovereign nation."

For "remain" campaigners, it was time to fight for a divorce settlement that preserves what they see as key benefits of EU membership, including free trade in goods and services and the right to live and work anywhere in the bloc.

"The phony war is over," said Joe Carberry, co-director of the pro-EU pressure group Open Britain. He said Britain had decided that it would leave the bloc - but "the issue of how we will leave, and the democratic checks and balances along the process of the negotiations, remains unresolved."

Brexit Secretary David Davis - the man charged with leading Britain's side in the talks - has called it "the most complicated negotiation in modern times, maybe the most complicated negotiation of all time."

Tusk said that within 48 hours he will respond with a draft negotiating guidelines for the remaining 27 member states to consider. Leaders of those nations will then meet on April 29 to finalize their negotiating platform before instructing the EU's chief negotiator, French diplomat Michel Barnier.

Then Barnier will sit down with his British counterpart, Davis.

As in many divorces, the first area of conflict is likely to be money. The EU wants Britain to pay a hefty bill - Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the EU's executive Commission, put it at around 50 billion euros [$63 billion] - to cover pension liabilities for EU staff and other commitments the UK has agreed to.

British negotiators are sure to quibble over the size of the tab.

Davis said Monday that Britain will "meet our international obligations," but added: "I don't think we are going to be seeing that sort of money change hands."

Juncker said the EU will not try to punish Britain for leaving.

"I do not think we will get anywhere by clobbering the British, insulting them and driving too hard a bargain," he said in a speech this month. But, he added, "There can be no cherry picking either. .... You are either in or out."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team