Brexit finally arrives Friday: A momentous yet quiet moment

BRUSSELS (AP) — Friday will mark a truly historic moment, but almost nothing will happen.

A few Union Jack flags will be lowered from European Union buildings in Brussels, more will be waved in jubilation by Brexiteers in London at the moment of Britain's departure — at 11 p.m. in the U.K., midnight in much of the EU (2300 GMT).

But for most of the half a billion people in Britain and the bloc, it will be a normal Friday night.

Britain and the bloc fought tooth and nail for the best part of four years — with insults flying across the English Channel — over the terms of their divorce. Now, on the eve of one of the most significant events in European Union history, the political eruptions have ceased and an uneasy quiet reigns: the calm before the next storm.

Both sides are spent and drained from the Brexit fight, and neither has much appetite for an extravaganza to mark the occasion.

The EU would prefer the night to pass without anyone noticing. After all, it is losing one of its biggest members, a diplomatic, military and economic power on a par with Germany and France. The U.K. is the first nation ever to turn its back on the EU in the 62-year history of this experiment in political union.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke this week of “the agony of parting.”

“We will always love you and we will never be far,” she said at the last session of the European Parliament with British participation.

Even British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, an energetic champion of Brexit, promised a “dignified exit” that is “mindful of everybody's feelings."

Arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage and his band of devotees will gather for patriotic songs and speeches in London's Parliament Square. But Johnson is staying away from triumphalism and won't be...