On 29 March, the government of the United Kingdom has officially handed its letter to the European Council(gathering the Heads of State and Government of all the member states), notifying its will to leave the European Union.

This has triggered a two year-period of negotiations under the provision of the Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which will focus on the conditions of the break-up (and not on the terms of the new relationship). A disagreement remains, for the moment, between the UK on one hand and the EU and its member states on the other hand to decide whether future agreements and conditions for trade and access to the Single market (by far the first market of the UK) should be subject of parallel negotiations, or this should wait until Brexit is completed.