Lib Dems call on PM to push for suspension of ‘bungled, malfunctioning’ system as overseas holiday travel peaks
Andy Burnham has been urged to lobby EU leaders directly to suspend the new entry-exit system, EES, as the peak weekend for overseas holidays begins.
About 2.2 million British holidaymakers are expected to head abroad between Friday and Monday, the majority to Europe, with all schools in the UK now on their summer break.
Continue reading...The new PM talks less about the continent than his predecessor, but his agenda is more closely aligned with the EU’s
• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
Europe’s leaders queued up this week to welcome Andy Burnham as Britain’s seventh prime minister since the Brexit vote – all expressing the hope that his tenure would continue the thaw in EU-UK relations initiated by his predecessor, Keir Starmer.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission chief, said she was looking forward to strengthening cross-Channel ties, adding that a “very good” first discussion had confirmed a common commitment to “bringing the EU and UK closer and closer”. France’s Emmanuel Macron said he hoped for a deeper relationship that gave “new momentum to the partnership” between the EU and the UK. Germany’s Friedrich Merz said he, too, was looking forward to forging an even closer bond.
Continue reading...Record June temperatures expected to cut grain harvest by 9m tonnes to its lowest level since 2018
The heatwave that swept across Europe in June is estimated to have cost the continent’s grain farmers €2bn (£1.7bn) in lost revenue and destroyed 9m tonnes of crops, sparking concern about the impact on the price of food.
Coceral, the European cereals and oilseeds trade association, made the estimate for the harvest of crops such as wheat, barley, maize and oats following the heatwave.
Continue reading...British domestic holidays are being pushed to their highest levels since Covid
The start of the peak summer season is set to bring millions of drivers on to British roads, with concerns of traffic chaos as the port of Dover faces its biggest test yet of new EU border controls.
The semi-functioning entry-exit system (EES) is credited, along with the heatwaves and fears about flights after the war in Iran, with helping push British domestic holidays to its highest levels since Covid halted international travel.
Continue reading...Beneath the drone strikes and talk of ceasefires lies a battle over history that is testing Kyiv’s chances for an end to the conflict
• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
I’ve just come back from a trip to Kyiv, where after more than four years of war, it can feel like the political and diplomatic news agenda has become cyclical: a suggestion that some kind of peace deal could be around the corner, followed by the swift intervention of reality that the Kremlin has no interest in abandoning its maximalist goals, and we all go back to the drawing board.
We are now in a period where Russia has again stepped up its air attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Frequent mass drone and missile attacks keep Kyiv residents awake, and some even get through to the city centre, whereas in the past Ukrainian air defences were usually able to repel them. Nights can be noisy and scary: one attack while I was there killed 27 people. Thousands head into the metro to get some sleep.
Continue reading...Treaty came into effect at midnight, eliminating border controls on land frontier with British overseas territory
Spain and Gibraltar are celebrating the fall of the last frontier fence in western Europe after the signing of a post-Brexit deal that brings an end to border checks for residents, tourists and the thousands of Spanish workers who cross into the British overseas territory every day.
The agreement, which was signed in Brussels on Tuesday and came into effect at midnight, marks the conclusion of more than four years of negotiations between the UK, Spain, Gibraltar and the EU after Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Continue reading...Pop star, whose parents are Kosovan Albanian, expresses admiration for demonstrations, which are entering their sixth week
Albania’s “flamingo revolution” has won its most prominent supporter yet after the pop star Dua Lipa expressed admiration for the protest movement against a Trump family-backed resort in the Balkan state.
As demonstrations against the €1.6bn (£0.85bn) real estate project entered a sixth week, the London-born singer, who was partially raised in Pristina, home to her Kosovan Albanian émigré parents, described the civic unrest as “inspiring”.
Continue reading...Almost 6,000 young men apply to be excluded on moral or religious grounds despite ‘conscription lite’ policy
The number of young men applying to be conscientious objectors and refuse armed military service in Germany has risen sharply this year, undermining a drive by Berlin to create Europe’s strongest conventional army and deter the Russian threat.
More people had applied to exclude themselves from service on religious or moral grounds in the first half of 2026 than in the whole of last year, according to figures provided by the government on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Ukraine and nine other countries including UK issue joint statement as leaders meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris
Ukraine and nine other countries including the UK, Germany and France are to build a shared protection programme for Europe against ballistic missiles, using Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years.
“Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defence capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement on Monday as leaders met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for talks in Paris.
Continue reading...Abir Al-Sahlani targeted on social media after condemning anti-immigration chants in European parliament
A Swedish MEP has filed a police complaint accusing a fellow MEP of racist hate speech after she was targeted on social media over her condemnation of far-right, anti-immigration chants in the European parliament.
The complaint, which was filed last week with police in Sweden, relates to the aftermath last month of the decision by some rightwing MEPs to erupt in chants of “send them back” following a vote aimed at increasing deportations across the EU.
Continue reading...Foreign ministers will discuss options on Monday but decision on imports is not expected for months
The EU has been accused of dragging its feet over upholding international law, on the eve of a long-awaited debate about banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday will discuss a possible ban on imports from the settlements, against an ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where a UN inquiry found Israel to be committing a genocide, and surging state-backed violence in the occupied West Bank, which has killed at least 235 children.
Continue reading...The French far-right leader’s presidential campaign is clouded in uncertainty under the shadow of an embezzlement conviction
Marine Le Pen’s decision to run for French president in 2027, despite her legal woes, has drawn comparisons from her opponents to Donald Trump.
Just as the US president felt his voter base cared little about legal investigations against him, the French far-right leader shrugged off the leftwing protesters who shouted “criminal!” as she launched her presidential campaign at a market walkabout in western France on Wednesday. The previous day, an appeal court had upheld her conviction for the embezzlement of European parliament funds.
Continue reading...Researchers say Stelios Kouloglou’s device was compromised after he joined European parliamentary committee
NSO Group’s hacking software was repeatedly used against a member of the European parliament while he was conducting an investigation of spyware abuses in Europe, according to a new report.
Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they could not attribute the attacks against Stelios Kouloglou to any particular government operator of Pegasus spyware. But their investigation found the attack against the Greek now-former MEP bore the hallmarks of a previous hacking campaign against exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists in Europe.
Continue reading...Proposed development of protected shorelines and wildlife zones violates EU environmental policy, says MEP
MEPs have warned Albania that EU accession talks are at risk if the government does not “change course” over plans for a luxury resort backed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Tineke Strik, the Dutch MEP heading a European parliament fact-finding mission to the Balkan nation, said Albania’s leadership was “playing with fire” by pursuing the €1.4bn (£1.2bn) real-estate venture that would, she said, wreak havoc on virgin coastline.
Continue reading...Airlines and airports say passengers are struggling in queues of up to five hours for biometric checks
Airlines and airports have called for the new EU biometric border check system to be suspended during the peak summer holiday period,saying some flights are leaving half full and passengers are struggling in queues of up to five hours.
In a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, airlines and airports asked for an option to suspend checks under the system over fears the situation will get much worse during the busy summer season.
Continue reading...Teresa Ribera blames ‘ideologically driven’ falsehoods, driven by those with vested interests in fossil fuels, for attacks on green policy
The heatwave wreaking chaos across Europe is a “dramatic warning” to reject climate naysayers, a European Commission vice-president says.
Teresa Ribera, executive vice-president for a clean, just and competitive transition, lambasted those who listened to the “vested interests” of the fossil fuel industry rather than scientists and their own citizens.
Continue reading...US president says levy would be imposed immediately and supersede pre-existing trade deals with the country
Donald Trump has threatened to place a 100% import tariff on any European country that imposes a tax on digital services from US companies.
Writing on Truth Social on Friday, the US president said that “numerous European countries” had been discussing putting a digital services tax on American companies and that “some of these countries are close to actually doing this”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Rights group says Nigel Farage’s party is reneging on promises made during the Brexit referendum campaign
EU nationals based permanently in the UK have expressed alarm over a Reform UK plan to target their rights to accommodation and employment, saying the policy is a betrayal of promises made in the Brexit referendum 10 years ago.
Under updated migration policies, Nigel Farage’s party would evict all overseas nationals from social housing and make it notably more expensive for companies to employ them, with both policies also affecting EU nationals who have settled status.
Continue reading...Airports CEO says letting non-EU passengers skip entry-exit system would be only way to avoid peak season travel chaos
Rome’s airports will have to suspend the EU’s new digital border system for non-EU citizens to avoid a “disaster” during the peak tourism summer months, according to the head of the airports company.
Marco Troncone said that allowing passengers to skip the biometric entry-exit system (EES) was the only way of avoiding travel chaos over the summer amid warnings from other European airport officials.
Continue reading...Prime minister gives fresh indication of his intention to finalise and publish defence investment plan before leaving office
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent.
The Liberal Democrats are marking the tenth anniversary of Brexit by enjoying their favourite pursuit – being rude about Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage pocketed a £5m “reward” for the damage he’s caused, while the rest of us are paying for it dearly. When he promised we would be better off, he clearly only meant himself. We are taking over billboards across the UK today to say enough is enough.
Key to a serious Jones run seems to what he makes of Burnham’s economic policies in the coming days - including public control of utilities. And whether Ed Miliband ends up as chancellor.
Continue reading...