Launched in July 2016 as a response to the United Kingdom's 2016 EU referendum, its readership is aimed at those who voted to remain within the European Union, with the newspaper's original tagline being "The New Pop-up Paper for the 48%".

[1][2] Formerly owned by Archant, it was announced at the beginning of February 2021 that a consortium including founder Matt Kelly, media executive Mark Thompson and former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber had acquired the newspaper.

[11] In May 2018 the newspaper devoted a whole issue to feminism, rebranding as The New Feminist, edited by Caroline Criado-Perez with contributions from Helen Lewis, Samira Ahmed, and Konnie Huq.

[14] In February 2021 it was announced that a consortium including founder Matt Kelly, media executive Mark Thompson and former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber had bought the newspaper from Archant.

[22] In July 2016, just a week after the launch of the paper, a columnist in Vice News described The New European as a newspaper for the "sore loser" that is "not united by a love for Europe, but rather a disdain for the 52%".

[25] In response to the feature, Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness Matt Warman said that "Those who seek to make the European case anew would do better to try to understand than to insult either individuals or whole towns.