The Guardian today announces a long-term commitment to Europe, kicking off with a special week-long series of in-depth reporting, interviews, features and films across all sections of the Guardian.
Led by associate editor for Europe, Katherine Butler, This is Europe launches with a new dedicated space on the Guardian’s digital front page for European readers - bringing together news, politics, business, sport, arts, and opinions from across the continent.
The Guardian is relaunching its curated European newsletter, This is Europe, which will now go weekly and contain a digest of the best Europe-focused journalism.
The move was announced by the Guardian’s editor-in-chief Katharine Viner in an article, in which she underlines the Guardian’s European heritage and a continued commitment to an international perspective, audience and meaningful journalism.
As part of the initial week, the Guardian today reveals that the EU plans to help prisoners, members of the Roma community and other vulnerable EU citizens to remain in the UK after Brexit.
In an interview with the Guardian, the new EU ambassador to the UK, Joao Vale de Almeida, said the EU initiative would have a special focus on “everyone that is for some reason outside the mainstream” of society. The EU fears that such people will miss the Home Office’s deadline to apply for settled status because they lack information or access to digital services.
The Guardian also reveals that European governments are adopting urgent measures to tackle a stark demographic shift that is leaving some regions of the continent almost devoid of young people and facing terminal decline. A data analysis conducted by the Guardian, to coincide with the launch of This is Europe, reveals the extent of Europe’s startling population and migratory shifts and shows how profound economic change and the EU free movement policy, are combining to reshape the continent’s map.
Today also sees the launch of a major new film series - Europeans. Co-produced by the Guardian and Headlong, the fictional series features seven stories written and performed in their first languages by writers and actors from across Europe: France, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Ireland and the UK.
In addition to special news reports and opinion writing from across the continent throughout this week, the Guardian’s daily news podcast, Today in Focus, examines the rise of the far-right in Germany.
Guardian arts critics will go to Berlin, Athens and beyond as they report on European arts and culture, while our food writers will reinvent European recipes.
Our lifestyle pages look at how to mend bridges after Brexit, couples who moved European countries for love, and the Guardian Weekend’s popular Blind Date goes to Paris.
In our sports coverage we will look at the ten most influential European footballers on the English game, and the future for European football and its relationship with the Premier League, Fifa and UEFA.
Later in 2020 the Guardian will also host live events in major European cities to bring together Guardian readers and journalists.
Writing in today’s Guardian, Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media said:
“The Guardian is a European news organisation with a close relationship with our large and committed audience in Europe.
We believe readers want journalism that tries to understand our continent better and to explore hopeful solutions to the crises and challenges facing it. We will stay open to shared perspectives and the public sphere. Britain may be leaving Europe. The Guardian is not.”
Katherine Butler, associate editor for Europe, Guardian News & Media:
“At a time of increasing political volatility, This is Europe marks the Guardian’s ongoing commitment to Europe and European journalism - building on our substantial roster of correspondents across the continent, and delving into the issues that confront us and solutions that unite us.”
The Guardian’s membership editor Mark Rice-Oxley said:
“Support for the Guardian from European readers has grown rapidly over the past three years. People are coming to us because they share our values and trust in our high quality reporting. We want to deepen our relationship with our European readers and encourage more to support our independent journalism.”
The Guardian’s audience in Europe has grown significantly since 2016. Digital traffic to the Guardian’s digital platforms from Europe (outside the UK) has doubled since 2016 and now accounts for around 16% of the Guardian’s monthly global traffic.
The ten countries with the largest Guardian audiences after the UK are Germany, Ireland, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland and Belgium.
15% of the Guardian’s financial support comes from European readers, up from 11% in 2016.
Almost a quarter of Guardian Weekly subscribers are from Europe.
