
EU-Britain agree on trade deal
The European Union and Britain reached a tentative agreement on defence and security, fisheries and youth mobility ahead of a EU-UK summit on Monday, paving the way for British firms to participate in large EU defence contracts, EU officials said.
Representatives of EU governments in Brussels received a text of a Common Understanding between Britain and the EU, and the document is now being approved by all 27 EU governments, the officials said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa will meet later on Monday in London.
"There is an agreement ... on the different texts and parallel aspects of the EU-UK Summit," one EU diplomat said.
"From my understanding, all member states seem to be happy with what's put on the table as the summit is about to start. There is now an ongoing written procedure to have the formal agreement of all member states, but it shouldn't cause any problem," the diplomat said.
Britain is poised to agree the most significant reset of ties with the European Union since Brexit on Monday, seeking closer collaboration on trade and defence to help grow the economy and boost security on the continent.
"With the positive signs coming from the negotiators in London in the last days and hours, the scene is now all set for a very successful and constructive reset of the relationship, that both the EU and UK will benefit from," the diplomat said.
The two sides were also looking at deals allowing British travellers to use e-gates at European airports.
Talks are continuing on a youth mobility scheme to allow people aged 18-30 in the UK and the EU to move freely between countries for a limited period of time.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Observer
3 hours ago
- Observer
Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg
Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday and the boat with its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg, is now heading to a port in Israel. The British-flagged yacht, Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there. However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control. "The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on X. All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over." Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. CREW ARRESTED "The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.," Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air. The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. "The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas. Katz said he had instructed that upon the boat's arrival at Ashdod port, the activists will be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which triggered the Gaza war . Hamas condemned the seizure of the boat as "state terrorism" and said it salutes its activists. Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 to stop weapons from reaching the militant group, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel and the West. The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began when Hamas-led militants rampaged through southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, by Israeli tallies. Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has since killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza and left its more than 2 million population largely displaced and at risk of famine, according to the United Nations. The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday, urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade. "Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on X.


Observer
20 hours ago
- Observer
Immigration only helps the economy if strictly controlled
Immigration has been an issue for a number of years in the UK and it, inevitably, played a major role in the referendum for Brexit in 2016. Regardless of whether immigration involves an EU state or elsewhere, it remains an important issue with the government. It was of no surprise that the Prime Minister, Kier Starmer, unveiled last month, as widely reported, sweeping reforms to the UK's immigration system in a bid to curb levels of net migration. Starmer laid out a series of measures that will make it harder to move to the UK and obtain citizenship. The UK government's proposals to prioritise highly skilled immigration are understandable – the only question is whether they go far enough. Since the pandemic, the profile of immigration patterns has shifted sharply towards low-skilled migration, while the number of visas granted to dependents has risen sharply. This includes over 300,000 granted to dependents of those on the health and social care route alone between 2021 and 2023. The number of international students has also soared, driven by one-year masters courses at low-ranked universities. UK visas for universities globally ranked between 601 and 1,200 increased by 49 per cent between 2021 and 2023, while visas for those ranked in the top 100 fell by seven per cent. And far from paying their fees, studying and then departing, in the year to June 2023, 46 per cent had shifted to a non-study visa within one year, compared to just two per cent of those who arrived on such visas in 2019. While the Treasury may simplistically score migration as boosting growth, what matters is GDP per capita. Recent OBR analysis shows low-skilled immigrants are a fiscal burden throughout their lives – and this analysis does not account for the impact of dependents. The government's own figures show the average employment rate for adults arriving by the family route is only 64 per cent, with average earnings of £27,200. Mass immigration drives up house prices and, undoubtedly, puts more pressure on public services and social cohesion. It places downward pressure on wages, despite the fervent wishes of some, the labour market obeys the law of supply and demand. More insidiously, it reduces the incentives of employers to train up British workers., confident that they will instead be able to import a cheaper worker from overseas. The argument is – where immigration is permitted, it should be primarily short-term in nature, rather than long-term, which is why the extension of the qualification period to apply to stay in the country permanently is important. As announced, the tightening of English language requirements and the reimposition of a degree requirement for skilled workers are positive, as is the increase in Immigration Skills Charge. Closing social care visas to new overseas applicants could be significant, though the governments own analysis estimates that it will reduce net migration by only 7,000 a year. The new restriction on graduates are largely cosmetic and will do nothing to stop the scandal that only 30 per cent of surveyed graduate visa holders were working in professional level jobs after graduation. However, many of these changes will not come into effect until next year, and the details are too often vague or incomplete. How many occupations will be on the new Temporary Shortage List? How many refugees will be allowed to apply through the skilled worker route? Will the levy on international student income ever be implemented? The Home Office (Interior Ministry) stands alone against the vested interests and stakeholder lobbies of other government departments. Immigration can deliver economic gains – but only if it is tightly controlled and very strictly targeted on those who will be net contributors. Andy Jalil The writer is our foreign correspondent based in the UK


Observer
20 hours ago
- Observer
Russia pushes offensive into Ukraine's eastern industrial region
MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it was pushing into Ukraine's eastern industrial Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its three-year offensive — a significant territorial escalation amid stalled peace talks. Moscow, which has the initiative on the battlefield, has repeatedly refused calls by Ukraine, Europe and US President Donald Trump for a full and unconditional ceasefire. At June 2 talks in Istanbul it demanded Kyiv pull troops back from the frontline, agree to end all Western arms support and give up on its ambitions to join the Nato military alliance. Dnipropetrovsk is not among the five Ukrainian regions over which Russia has asserted a formal territorial claim. It is an important mining and industrial hub for Ukraine and deeper Russian advances into the region could have a serious knock-on effect for Kyiv's struggling military and economy. Dnipropetrovosk had an estimated population of three million before Russia launched its offensive. Around one million people lived in the regional capital, Dnipro. Russia's defence ministry said forces from a tank unit had "reached the western border of the Donetsk People's Republic and are continuing to develop an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region". The advance of Russian forces into yet another region of Ukraine is both a symbolic and strategic blow to Kyiv's forces after months of setbacks on the battlefield. There was no immediate response from Ukraine to Russia's statement. Moscow in 2022 claimed annexation of the frontline Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia regions, which it did not have full control over. Already in 2014, it seized the Crimean peninsula following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv. In a set of peace demands issued to Ukraine at the latest talks, Moscow demanded formal recognition that these regions were part of Russia — something Kyiv has repeatedly ruled out. Tens of thousands have been killed in the three-year offensive, millions forced to flee their homes and cities and villages across eastern Ukraine devastated by relentless air attacks and ground combat. In more than a decade of conflict with Kremlin-backed separatists and the Russian army, Ukraine has never had to fight on the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region until now. Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of the national security council, said the fresh advance was a warning to Kyiv that it should give in to Russia's demands at peace talks. "Those who do not want to recognise the realities of the war at negotiations, will receive new realities on the ground. Our armed forces have started an offensive in the Dnipropetrovsk region," he said on social media. Russia's army posted photos showing troops raising the Russian flag over the village of Zorya in Ukraine's Donetsk region, close to the internal border. Ukrainian military personnel previously said that Russia could advance relatively quickly in the largely flat region, given there were fewer natural obstacles or villages that could be used as defensive positions by Kyiv's forces. The region — and in particular the city of Dnipro — have been under persistent Russian strikes for the last three years. Russia used Dnipro as a testing ground for its "experimental" Oreshnik missile in late 2024, claiming to have struck an aeronautics production facility. Earlier on Sunday local Ukrainian officials said one person was killed in the region in an attack on a village close to the frontline. Moscow also continued to accuse Ukraine of refusing to agree to take back the bodies of killed soldiers, after the two countries traded accusations a day earlier for thwarting a prisoner exchange agreed at talks in Istanbul. Russia's defence ministry said trains carrying corpses were headed to the border point, where more than 1,200 had arrived on Saturday in refrigerated trucks. Ukraine said on Saturday that the two sides had never agreed a date or time for some 6,000 bodies in total to be handed back. — AFP