Britain officially told the EU on Wednesday it will leave the bloc, setting the clock ticking on a two-year period for negotiating its departure.

Tim Barrow, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, handed over Prime Minister Theresa May’s letter to European Council President Donald Tusk.

“This is an historic moment from which there can be no turning back,” May told the House of Commons shortly after the notification had been delivered.

In Brussels, Tusk expressed sadness that Britain was leaving but said the remaining 27 EU members would be “determined and united” in their talks with the U.K. government.

“In essence this is about damage control,” Tusk said. “Our goal is clear — to minimize the cost for citizens, businesses and member states. We will do everything in our power to achieve this goal.”

Under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU and a departing state have two years to negotiate the terms of their separation. That period can be extended only with the agreement of all EU members.

The formal notification comes nine months after Britain opted for Brexit in a referendum, with 52 percent of voters in favor. The United Kingdom has been a member of the EU since 1973.

May said Brexit was “this generation’s chance to shape a brighter future for this country.” She said she wanted Britain to come out of the process “stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking than ever before.”

‘Deep and special’

In her letter to Tusk, May repeated her call for a “deep and special partnership” with the EU.

However, she appeared to put herself on a collision course with Brussels by insisting that both the divorce deal and the terms of the future relationship between the U.K. and the EU could be completed within two years, insisting that an institution that “succeeded in bringing together a continent blighted by war into a union of peaceful nations” should be up to the task.

A free trade agreement between the U.K. and the EU should be “of greater scope and ambition than any such agreement before it so that it covers sectors crucial to our linked economies such as financial services and network industries,” said the prime minister.

She also called for “implementation periods to adjust in a smooth and orderly way to new arrangements.”

May repeated her insistence that if the two sides could not reach a deal, the U.K. would fall back to trading with EU on World Trade Organization terms, and held out the U.K.’s influential contribution to EU security as a bargaining chip.

“In security terms a failure to reach agreement would mean our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened,” she wrote. “In this kind of scenario, both the United Kingdom and the European Union would of course cope with the change, but it is not the outcome that either side should seek. We must therefore work hard to avoid that outcome.”

However, she signaled that the U.K. was willing to ensure that companies that wished to trade with the EU met the bloc’s regulatory standards in order to guarantee a smooth trading relationship.

“We … understand that there will be consequences for the U.K. of leaving the EU: we know that we will lose influence over the rules that affect the European economy,” she wrote. “We also know that U.K. companies will, as they trade within the EU, have to align with rules agreed by institutions of which we are no longer a part – just as U.K. companies do in other overseas markets.”

In an offering to the Scottish government, which wants to hold a new referendum on independence, May said some powers taken back from Brussels would be devolved to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. “The outcome of this process will be a significant increase in the decision-making power of each devolved administration,” she wrote.

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