Prime Minister Theresa May has officially notified Brussels about the launch of Brexit. The documents were presented to the President of the European Council Donald Tusk by the British Permanent Representative to the EU Tim Barrow.

Nine months after the British voted in a referendum on leaving the union, Theresa May began negotiations whose end result will determine the future of the world’s fifth largest economy.

“This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back. Great Britain will leave the European Union. We ourselves will make decisions and draft our own laws. We will take back control over the things which are important to us. And we will take advantage of the opportunity to build a stronger and fairer Great Britain. The government is resolved on achieving this.”

PM Theresa May, who opposed Brexit in principle but headed the government during the political chaos after the referendum, now has two years to negotiate the exit terms. She will have one of the toughest tasks that a British PM has faced in the last few decades: to maintain the integrity of the UK given the probability of a new referendum on Scottish independence while she is holding difficult negotiations with the remaining 27 member-states of the EU on deals in areas like finance, trade, security and several other complex issues.

Theresa May promised to look for the greatest possible access to European markets but pointed out that Great Britain will aim at signing new trade agreements with countries outside Europe by imposing restrictions on migration from the continent.