Tears of joy and sadness as UK leaves EU
In a moment greeted by some with cheers and by others with tears, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union on Friday at midnight Polish time.
In a pre-recorded message sent out earlier in the day, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called it „an astonishing moment of hope… when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act in our great national drama.”
The attitude in Brussels was decidedly more somber, with the Union Jack being quietly removed from the EU Council building hours before midnight. With the departure of its partner of nearly 50 years, the EU loses 15% of its economy, its biggest military spender, and city of London, which is currently the second-largest financial center in the world behind New York.
In a televised speech French President Emmanual Macron called the occasion an „historic alarm signal” for Europe, calling for the remaining EU member states to engage in further reforms and stop using the EU as “a scapegoat for our own difficulties.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was decidedly more optimistic in her outlook, emphasizing in her speech that “strength does not lie in splendid isolation, but in our unique union. Nowhere else in the world can you find 27 nations of 440 million people speaking 24 different languages, relying on each other, working together, living together. This is not by accident or by chance…as the sun rises tomorrow a new chapter for our union of 27 will start.”
Poles in UK urged to apply for settled status
With the official departure of the UK from the EU, Britain’s ambassador to Warsaw is encouraging Poles living in the UK to apply for „settled status” as soon as possible. EU citizens will continue to have the right to travel freely to and from the UK for the next 11 months, but this situation will likely change after the transitional period ends next December.
In an interview with Radio Poland, British Ambassador Jonathan Knott said the application process was simple and urged Poles to do it „As soon as you can. The sooner you do, the more straightforward your life in the UK is going to be.” Some 400,000 of the 900,000 Polish citizens living in the UK have reportedly not yet applied for settled status. EU citizens have until June 30, 2021, to do so.
UK citizens in Poland have been similarly encouraged to apply for residency if they wish to remain in Poland or continue to conduct business here after December 2020. More information is available on the official Brexit website of the Polish Ministry of Development: https://www.brexit.gov.pl/
Polish coronavirus evacuees set to return home
As the number of Wuhan coronavirus cases continues to rise, Poland has joined other EU member states in evacuating its citizens from China.
According to Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski, 30 Poles evacuated from China should be arriving in Wrocław this evening as part of a larger European evacuation effort. The evacuees are reportedly in good health and are currently under the supervision of medical personnel on their initial flight to France.
Poland joins other EU member states along with the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand in evacuating its citizens from China. On Friday, LOT airlines also announced it would be suspending flights to Beijing until February 9th as China continues to struggle with containing the outbreak, which has now spread to all provinces and regions of the PRC. Cases of the virus have been confirmed in 25 additional countries, including the USA, Germany, France, and Finland.
Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska told reporters on Friday that Poland does not yet have any confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but „sooner or later it will certainly appear.” Roughly a dozen people suspected to be infected with the flu-like virus are currently being hospitalized around Poland, with an additional 500 being monitored by the health service.
Be a star by shooting the moon
For all the aspiring night sky photographers out there, Hewelianum in Gdańsk just announced the opening of its eighth annual International Astrophotography „AstroCamera” Competition.
Budding astronomers and photographers are encouraged to submit photographs in one of three categories: deep-sky objects, including star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae; solar system objects including planets, comets, and meteors; and „astrolandscapes”, photographs of landscape elements like houses or mountains combined with astronomical objects such as constellations, shooting stars, or phases of the moon.
The competition will be open until April 30th, with winners being announced at the end of May. For more information and full competition rules, visit https://www.hevelianum.pl/news/606_konkurs-astrocamera-2020
Weather
Today will be partly cloudy and very windy with a slight chance for drizzling rain throughout the day. Temperatures will continue to drop throughout the afternoon from a high of 6° C (43° F) to an overnight low of around 3° C, (37° F). Tomorrow is set to be cloudy and windy in the morning, with a chance for rain returning again Monday night.
RGEN/EP/PAP/ak
