Timmermans' love letter to Great Britain: "It hurts that you decided to leave, I love you"

The United Kingdom will "always be welcomed back" to the European Union, European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans wrote in a "love letter" published Thursday, a month before Brexit, scheduled for January 31.

"Honestly, I am deeply hurt that you have decided to leave," Timmermans wrote in a second-person letter to Great Britain, published on the website of the British pro-European daily "The Guardian".

More than three years after 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the EU, the Vice President of the Commission is "still sad that one of our family members wants to end our ties" after 47 years of stormy life together.

"But at the same time, it gives me comfort to think that family ties can never be broken. We are not separated and you will always be welcome," writes Frans Timmermans.

He writes about remembering his first impressions of Great Britain while learning English as a child at St. George's International School, Rome.

More than 40 years have passed since then, Timmermans writes, and: "Now I know you. And I love you. Because of everything you gave me. I'm like an old lover: I know where you are strong and where you are weak. I know that you can be generous , but also stingy. I know you think you're unique and different from the rest. Of course you are, in more ways than one, but maybe less than you think," he wrote.

"You will never stop calling us 'the continent'. It helps you distance yourself as much as you think you need. But it prevents you from seeing that we all need a little distance from each other. All European nations are unique. Our differences are a source of admiration , surprises, inconveniences, misunderstandings, ridicule, caricatures and yes: they are also a source of love," Timmermans writes.

After the separation, scheduled for the end of January, after three delays, a transition period will begin which should enable the establishment of new relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in favor of the UK rejecting any extension of the transition period through Brexit legislation, even though it is considered too short for the kind of negotiations that need to be carried out.

When that law is made official, it will have to be ratified by the European Parliament.