To make sure Britain has an orderly exit from the European Union, officials in London and Brussels are racing against a two-year deadline.

But tensions are running high.

While officials in Brussels are receiving negotiation guidelines from the remaining 27 countries, with talks due to the kick off around May, the U.K. government is preparing to convert European Union law into domestic law to ensure there’s clarity for businesses and citizens.

While the tone is tinged with rivalry, on both sides there is a sense of urgency to agree on the terms of the divorce.

Running the headline “EU warns: Don’t blackmail us”, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper pictured the U.K.’s ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow and President Donald Tusk of the European Council. The failure to agree on a Brexit agreement would weaken cooperation in crime and security, British Prime Minister Theresa May stated in her communication to the EU. They would not accept such threats as a bargaining chip, officials in Brussels however said.

“I tried to be a gentleman towards a lady, so I didn’t even use or think about the use of the word blackmail,” Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s representative for Brexit, said at a press conference Wednesday evening.

“I think the security of our citizens is far too important to start a trade-off of one and the other. Both are absolutely necessary in the future partnership without bargaining this one against the other,” he added.

While the appetite in Brussels for a trade-off where Theresa May wants to have a trade deal with the EU, in exchange for collaboration in security, is non-existent. before making new trade arrangements issues like the rights of citizens and the Irish border are intended t be decided first by them.

The benefits of being a member of the EU cannot be the same for a country that decided to leave, European lawmakers agreed Wednesday. One thing is certain: “Whatever happens, opting to leave cannot be better than remaining a member of the club”, in the corridors of power in Brussels.

Some took their time to celebrate this historic moment despite the rising tensions on both sides of the English Channel.

The official start of the process was celebrated in pubs in London and Brussels by the U.K.’s independence party UKIP, which has always pushed for Brexit. , making the Daily Mail’s front page next to the headline: “Cheers to a great future,” its former leader, Nigel Farage was pictured at a party in London. The right-wing Daily Telegraph similarly went with the headline: “A magnificent moment.”

But at least in the near term that future may not be so great. the Brexit bill could range from 25.4 billion euros ($27.32 billion) to 65.1 billion euros ($66.04 billion), depending on the political scenario and negotiation results, scholars at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel calculated.

But the truth is an EU member is exiting the 60-year old Union on March 29, 2019, against what many thought would never happen.

“Thank you and goodbye” were the words on the Financial Times on Thursday morning. Shortly after receiving the U.K.’s letter informing it is leaving the Union, they were proclaimed by President Donald Tusk of the European Council. Prime Minister May said that there is “no turning back”, earlier in the day,

(Adapted from CNBC)

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