[DAWN] The European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
is unhappy Britannia is leaving, European Council President Donald Tusk told news hounds on Wednesday after receiving formal notification from London.
But the other 27 states are now more united and will protect their interests in "difficult negotiations' before Brexit in 2019, he added.
Concluding his brief remarks to the media in Brussels, the former Polish prime minister said he had little to add about Britannia but concluded: "We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye."
Brexit divorce papers
Prime Minister Theresa May filed formal Brexit divorce papers on Wednesday, pitching the United Kingdom into the unknown and triggering years of uncertain negotiations that will test the cohesion of the European Union.
Nine months after Britons voted to leave, May notified EU Council President Donald Tusk in a letter that the UK is quitting the bloc it joined in 1973.
The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to settle the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in late March 2019.
"The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union," May told politicians in the British parliament "This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back."