{"id":1061582,"date":"2026-07-01T10:17:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1061582\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:17:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:17:17","slug":"has-brexit-made-europe-stronger-or-weaker-meps-go-face-to-face-on-the-ring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1061582\/","title":{"rendered":"Has Brexit made Europe stronger or weaker? MEPs go face-to-face on The Ring"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ten years after the UK voted to exit the European Union, the debate over Brexit&#8217;s legacy is far from over. MEPs Barry Andrews (Renew Europe) and Sander Smit (European Conservatives &amp; Reformists) go head-to-head on whether Brexit has strengthened or weakened Europe\u2014and whether Britain could or should one day return to the bloc.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For Irish MEP Barry Andrews, the answer is clear. He argues that leaving the EU was a mistake and a &#8220;total disaster&#8221; for the UK, pointing to years of political instability and economic challenges since the referendum. He also contends that Brexit has ultimately strengthened support for the European project, stating that &#8220;there is nobody looking to leave the European Union anymore.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Dutch MEP Sander Smit takes a different view, saying the EU still misses &#8220;the UK&#8217;s crucial voice for fiscal and financial discipline&#8221; and warning against a more centralised Europe. &#8220;Our future lies in a stronger partnership,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Let the UK and EU countries move beyond the past and work together as natural, sovereign allies.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Ring is hosted by M\u00e9abh Mc Mahon, produced by Luis Albertos Altarejos and Amaia Echevarria, and edited by Vassilis Glynos.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">You can contact us at: thering@euronews.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten years after the UK voted to exit the European Union, the debate over Brexit&#8217;s legacy is far&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1061583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5226],"tags":[194830,802,748,2000,299,5187,291404,1699,4884,285108,291405,16,15],"class_list":["post-1061582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brexit","tag-barry-andrews","tag-brexit","tag-britain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-conservatives-reformists","tag-european-union","tag-great-britain","tag-renew-europe","tag-sander-smit","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116844209648589108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1061583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}