DW – January 1, 2021
Britain saw a major reset to its relations with the European Union on January 1, the first day after the end of the 11-month transition phase which served to smooth its exit from the bloc.
The UK officially left the bloc on January 31, 2020, but it effectively remained tied to it in terms of customs and commercial arrangements while it sought a free-trade agreement.
At the stroke of midnight in Brussels and 11 p.m. in London on Thursday, the UK quit the EU’s Customs Union and Single Market. The New Year also ended freedom of movement between the UK and nearly all of the EU states, except for Ireland.
However, special rules are now in place for Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the southern Spanish coast. Talks between the governments in London, Madrid, and Gibraltar on Thursday came down to the last hours to scramble a deal that sees Gibraltar enter the Schengen zone.
The first post-Brexit truck carried goods across the border on Friday. The driver pulled in at the new pit stop at the exit of the Channel Tunnel with a new array of documents which will now become standard practice for those passing between the UK and the EU as a result of Brexit.
DW correspondent Barbara Wesel, reporting from Calais, in northern France, said that there was very little traffic on the morning of January 1, but she explained that this was because the bigger companies had had time to prepare and accustom themselves to the new rules.
However, “it is going to hit a lot of the smaller transport companies that carry mixed loads … For them, life is going to be much more difficult.”
She added that the delays might be more noticeable on Monday, after the long weekend and the New Year’s day holiday. “Then we might see those traffic jams that everybody has been warning about,” Wesel said.