![\"Lisa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782211034_665_Lisa-OCarroll-byline-004.jpg\")
Lisa O\u2019Carroll<\/p>\nFormer Brexit negotiator urges likely new British PM to ditch reset in relationsLisa O\u2019Carroll<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, former Brexit<\/a> negotiatior David Frost has said Andy Burnham, if made prime minister, should ditch much of Keir Starmer\u2019s reset with the EU.<\/p>\n Specifically he should scrap plans including the food and drink deal designed to reduce red tape for British exporters to the EU.<\/p>\n Speaking at a UK in a Changing Europe<\/a> conference, he said that he thought Keir Starmer and his team did not think through their \u201creset\u201d properly and pursuing agreements that would force the UK to be a rule taker rather than a rule maker was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think proponents of the reset have thought it thought properly,\u201d he said of the outgoing UK leadership. \u201cThey didn\u2019t think hard enough about choices and the processes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess my advice to Andy Burnham would be if you must continue with the reset … then don\u2019t get into submitting to new laws,\u201d he said adding \u201cdon\u2019t proceed with the SPS, ETS, electricity\u201d in a reference to the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary or food and drink deal, the Emissions Trading System (alignment on charging for carbon emissions involved in manufacturing).<\/p>\n These he said \u201care the elements that involve EU law\u201d adding that if Burnham \u201cmust proceed with Erasmus and other things\u201d on the cultural side including youth mobility \u201ctry and persuade us that this is good use of our resources\u201d.<\/p>\n His remarks come a day after the EU postponed a scheduled 22 July summit with the UK government to agree on SPS, ETS and youth mobility.<\/p>\n Talks on youth mobility were until recently deadlocked over the UK\u2019s refusal to accede to the EU\u2019s demand that EU citizens should be able to study in UK universities on the basis of home tuition fees.<\/p>\n Frost said he was \u201csceptical it was the right moment\u201d to do a youth mobility agreement and \u201cgiving concessions to Europeans that we don\u2019t give to others\u201d such as tuition fees.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.32 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Germany’s Merz says ‘failure is not an option’ as he wants to push through pension system reform<\/p>\n Elsewhere, German chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged to push through a proposed reform of the country\u2019s creaking pension system that would include raising the retirement age gradually in line with life expectancy, declaring that \u201cfailure is not an option,\u201d AP reported.<\/p>\n Merz\u2019s coalition of center-right and center-left parties took office just over a year ago with pledges to reform and turn around Germany\u2019s sluggish economy, Europe\u2019s biggest. It has since become deeply unpopular, in part because of perceptions that it has squabbled but so far achieved little.<\/p>\n German chancellor Friedrich Merz is seen through a window at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Photograph: Nadja Wohlleben\/Reuters<\/p>\n AP noted that Germany\u2019s economy returned to modest growth last year after shrinking for two years in a row. The government expects underwhelming growth of 0.5% this year, a figure that has been pushed down by the fallout from the war in Iran .<\/p>\n The country of 83.5 million people already faced increasing competition from Chinese companies, higher energy costs following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and issues including US president Donald Trump \u2018s tariffs and trade threats.<\/p>\n On top of that, it has deeper problems such as high production costs, lagging private investment and increasingly costly health and pension systems, caused by an aging population.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>40 people drowned in France since weekend as country sees extreme temperatures, PM says<\/p>\n Meanwhile, we are also getting a dramatic update from France, with the country\u2019s prime minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu saying that forty people \u2060have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas in France since the weekend.<\/p>\n A makeshift fabric window-covering in Nantes, western France, on Tuesday. Photograph: Sebastien Salom-Gomis\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Much of France is under severe heat alert \u2060and set to experience temperatures around 40C on Tuesday, Meteo France said, with temperatures of up to 43C expected in some parts of western France.<\/p>\n France experienced its hottest night from Monday to Tuesday since measurements began in 1947, the national weather agency said.<\/p>\n More on that on our heatwave blog here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.01 EDT<\/p>\n EU should integrate Ukraine in defence union, commissioner says<\/p>\n In other news, EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius said the EU needs to \u2060integrate Ukraine in a future defence union.<\/p>\n European Commissioner for defence and space Andrius Kubilius speaks to media during an informal meeting of EU defence ministers in Nicosia, Cyprus earlier this month. Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou\/Reuters<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to transformation of its war \u2060doctrine, Ukraine is prevailing\u201d defending itself from Russia, Kubilius said in a speech \u2060in Brussels, quoted by Reuters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be difficult \u200bto understand \u200cif we \u200cin Europe<\/a> would not take it \u200cas our vital interest to integrate the military force of Ukraine into our European defence architecture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The European Commission \u200cwill likely present first proposals for a further integration of \u200bthe European defence market next week \u201cwith detailed analysis and follow up steps\u201c, the commissioner said, speaking \u2060at the European Defence and \u200bSecurity summit.<\/p>\n \u201cLater \u200bthis year we \u200bwill present a proposal \u200bto \u200cchange defence procurement \u200brules. \u200bAnd other market rules,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Former Brexit negotiator urges likely new British PM to ditch reset in relations Meanwhile, former Brexit<\/a> negotiatior David Frost has said Andy Burnham, if made prime minister, should ditch much of Keir Starmer\u2019s reset with the EU.<\/p>\n Britain\u2019s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost speaks to the press in 2021 Photograph: John Thys\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Specifically he should scrap plans including the food and drink deal designed to reduce red tape for British exporters to the EU.<\/p>\n Speaking at a UK in a Changing Europe<\/a> conference, he said that he thought Keir Starmer and his team did not think through their \u201creset\u201d properly and pursuing agreements that would force the UK to be a rule taker rather than a rule maker was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think proponents of the reset have thought it thought properly,\u201d he said of the outgoing UK leadership. \u201cThey didn\u2019t think hard enough about choices and the processes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess my advice to Andy Burnham would be if you must continue with the reset … then don\u2019t get into submitting to new laws,\u201d he said adding \u201cdon\u2019t proceed with the SPS, ETS, electricity\u201d in a reference to the Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary or food and drink deal, the Emissions Trading System (alignment on charging for carbon emissions involved in manufacturing).<\/p>\n These he said \u201care the elements that involve EU law\u201d adding that if Burnham \u201cmust proceed with Erasmus and other things\u201d on the cultural side including youth mobility \u201ctry and persuade us that this is good use of our resources\u201d.<\/p>\n His remarks come a day after the EU postponed a scheduled 22 July summit with the UK government to agree on SPS, ETS and youth mobility.<\/p>\n Talks on youth mobility were until recently deadlocked over the UK\u2019s refusal to accede to the EU\u2019s demand that EU citizens should be able to study in UK universities on the basis of home tuition fees.<\/p>\n Frost said he was \u201csceptical it was the right moment\u201d to do a youth mobility agreement and \u201cgiving concessions to Europeans that we don\u2019t give to others\u201d such as tuition fees.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.32 EDT<\/p>\n Three in five gen Z Britons would like new vote to rejoin EU, poll finds A generation of young Britons who were locked out of the 2016 EU referendum because of their age now believe that Brexit<\/a> has failed, with a majority demanding a fresh vote to rejoin the EU, exclusive polling shows.<\/p>\n Protesters pass through central London during the National Rejoin March, calling on the UK government to rejoin the European Union on the tenth anniversary of the Brexit referendum. Photograph: Vuk Valcic\/ZUMA Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n Gen Z Britons show deep dissatisfaction with the UK\u2019s departure from the EU, according to new polling of 18- to 28-year-olds conducted by the thinktank More in Common and shared with the Guardian.<\/p>\n The data reveals that 60% of this cohort would vote to rejoin the bloc if given the opportunity, compared with 9% who would vote to stay out.<\/p>\n Poll showing that Gen Z Britons view Brexit as a failure, and support rejoining the EU<\/a><\/p>\n When filtering the results to focus solely on those likely to cast a ballot in a hypothetical second referendum, the margin becomes a landslide, with the pro-EU Remain\/Rejoin camp capturing 81% of the vote against just 19% for remaining outside.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Brexit bellwether constituencies revisited 10 years on<\/p>\n If you want to know how people on the ground, in bellwether constituencies, feel about Brexit<\/a> ten years on, we have something for you.<\/p>\n But let me just say: yeah, they think exactly what you think they think.<\/p>\n David Milne voted leave to try to save the UK fishing industry \u2013 to have more say over what happened in our waters. \u2018We was promised that, but that hasn\u2019t happened,\u2019 he says. Composite: Guardian Design<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolute nightmare, shambles, and still is to this day,\u201d says Tony Rutherford, a decade after he voted leave to save the British fishing industry.<\/p>\n In May 2016, David Milne, the chair of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, leaned against an EU funding sign on the quayside of Fraserburgh harbour and said he hoped Brexit would allow his industry<\/a> to \u201cmanage our own destiny\u201d, but he now feels their livelihoods were \u201cbartered away\u201d.<\/p>\n For Milne, \u201ccontrol\u201d was the main appeal of Brexit.<\/p>\n double quotation markWe are bitter about it because we haven\u2019t gained any.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Czechia’s Pavel hits back at ‘unprecedented’ decision to exclude him from Nato summit<\/p>\n As expected, Czech president Petr Pavel has filed a complaint against the government\u2019s decision to exclude him from the Czech delegation for next month\u2019s Nato summit in Ankara.<\/p>\n The move comes after the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babi\u0161, said yesterday that the decision to exclude the president was \u201cpurely practical,\u201d as he dismissed \u201can unnecessary\u201d dispute with the president (Europe Live, Monday<\/a>).<\/p>\n Prime minister Andrej Babi\u0161 is sworn in as the country\u2019s new prime minister by Czech Republic\u2019s president Petr Pavel. Photograph: Petr David Josek\/AP<\/p>\n The pair is at loggerheads over Czechia\u2019s defence policy and spending commitments, with the government currently spending less than 2% GDP on defence, way below Nato\u2019s targets, and other political issues.<\/p>\n In a formal response to the government\u2019s decision this morning<\/a>, Pavel said it was an \u201cunprecedented and extremely unfortunate step,\u201d and a dangerous break from the past convention that historically saw Czechia represented at Nato summits by the country\u2019s president ever since it joined in 1999.<\/p>\n He said that when he attended three Nato summits in the past, he always followed the government\u2019s position, and he would do the same this year.<\/p>\n But \u201cmonths of public bickering about who will fly where have been seen as an inability of the highest state officials to reach an agreement among themselves,\u201d and \u201cat a time when Nato is dealing with the greatest security threats in the alliance\u2019s history, I consider this an irresponsible approach to our citizens and our allies.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis must end,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pavel said that he repeatedly put forward compromise proposals that would see him attend the informal part of the summit \u2013 a policy discussion \u2013 while leaving the budget talks to the government. But he said he received no response or counterproposal from Babi\u0161.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is my duty not only to exercise the powers of the President to the fullest extent, but also to defend them. Not for my own sake. But for the sake of all the presidents who will come after me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The complaint has now been received by the Constitutional Court<\/a>, and it will consider how to progress the case tomorrow.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.43 EDT<\/p>\n Morning opening: Ten years on Good morning on the tenth anniversary of Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n Tenth!<\/p>\n Time flies when you are having fun, I guess.<\/p>\n Pro-European protesters gathered in Parliament Square to call for the United Kingdom to rejoin the European Union, 10 years after the EU referendum, in Westminster, London. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n There will be plenty of commentary, but here, at the Guardian, we have gone back to the people who spoke to us 10 years ago with their first reaction after the vote.<\/p>\n Here are their comments. Spoiler alert: it also includes, erm, me.<\/p>\n I will bring you some of the best stories and analyses from our Brexit: ten years ago catalogue throughout the day.<\/p>\n But we also have plenty of other topics to cover in contemporary European politics.<\/p>\n Leaders of the Visegrad Four \u2013 the regional grouping of Czech Republic, Hungary<\/a>, Poland and Slovakia \u2013 are meeting in Hungary to revive the group after years of disagreements under Viktor Orb\u00e1n\u2019s rule.<\/p>\n We are also expecting to hear from the Czech president Petr Pavel this morning as he is due to respond to the Czech government\u2019s decision to block him from attending the Nato summit in Ankara next month.<\/p>\n And there are also continuing heatwaves across the continent, with Jamie Grierson covering the latest for the UK and parts of Europe.<\/p>\n Lots to cover today.<\/p>\n It\u2019s Tuesday, 23 June 2026, it\u2019s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.<\/p>\n Good morning.<\/p>\n![\"Britain\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782211035_314_4640.jpg\")
Britain\u2019s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost speaks to the press in 2021 Photograph: John Thys\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\nLisa O\u2019Carroll<\/p>\n![\"Jamie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782211035_505_Jamie-Grierson,-L.png\")
Jamie Grierson<\/p>\n![\"Jakub](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782211036_639_Jakub_Krupa.png\")
Jakub Krupa<\/p>\n