Article 50, a section of the Lisbon Treaty that outlines the procedures for leaving the European Union, is set to ‘trigger’ on Wed. March 29. This is the formal process of the UK leaving the European Union. Much like if the UK is serving divorce papers to the EU, it requires a very long and arduous process. Many people already think that Brexit has already happened, but in reality, there has only been a public referendum and much debate. 

Last summer, the United Kingdom put the idea of a departure to a public vote. The margin between the ‘leave’ and ‘stay’ vote was less than 5 percent with the British public voting in favor of leaving the Union. There has been analysis on the economic state that the UK and the EU after this vote were made; however, it is also important to know that the UK has not left the EU yet, so there is still a great deal of uncertainty about the economic impact that the leave with actually have.

Once the Article is triggered on Wednesday, the formal process to leave will take almost two years for the leave to occur. This gradual leave is one that is much needed for the stability of the region but also does not coincide with why the British public voted to leave.

The British people voted to leave for a few reasons. The primary ones are the collapsing EU economy and the state of security within the EU. The only problem is that within the time period that it takes to leave the EU, all of the damages that the EU public was concerned about may not be mitigated. The security situation of open borders has not been alleviated and borders continue to be open until the legal exit. In addition, the collapse of a handful of EU national economies are near on the horizon and continue to bring down the EU while the UK is still a member.

Therefore, the departure turns out to be not as timely of a solution to problems that the UK citizens wanted and still will leave the UK in the current situation for time to come.