Research
The paradox of French power
10 December 2025
France has a very weak government with an uncertain future, yet it remains a dominant force in EU policy-making. How does one explain this paradox?
Europe's clean tech industry between Trump's policies and Chinese pressure
09 December 2025
The EU needs a coherent clean tech strategy to fend off the US industrial & trade policy shock & Chinese market pressure.
Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security
08 December 2025
The European Competitiveness Fund could be a powerful tool to improve the EU's economic security. But the proposal needs reform to avoid pitting security and growth against each other.
European security in a time of war: Standing with Ukraine, against Russia and without the US
02 December 2025
Russian aggression & US indifference threaten Europe. Europe must build security against Russia, without the US but with Ukraine.
The far right’s impact on the EU’s climate agenda
14 November 2025
The far right is stronger than ever in the European Parliament. And climate policy has become a testing ground for its influence.
Three hard lessons for European trade
10 November 2025
Global trade policy is now dominated by great power politics, putting Europe under pressure. The EU will have to accommodate the US, confront China and derisk from both.
What the Dutch elections mean for the Netherlands and for Europe
05 November 2025
Armida van Rij and Sander Tordoir decipher what the election results mean for The Netherlands and Europe more broadly.
The EU’s Defence Readiness 2030 Roadmap: Ambition and constraints
29 October 2025
The Defence Readiness 2030 Roadmap seeks to accelerate and inject coherence into the EU’s defence build-up. Its success depends on sustained funding and political will.
Policy to accommodate populist voters won't work
28 October 2025
There is an expansive literature on the causes of the rise of populism. Its lesson? Policies designed to appease populism are unlikely to be effective. That battle can only be won through argument.
How buy-European rules can help save Europe's car industry
23 October 2025
Europe's car industry faces an acute demand shock from Chinese overcapacity & US tariffs. Instead of bailouts & regulatory rollbacks, member-states should co-ordinate buy-European EV subsidies & revive internal demand.
Articles
Europe needs to get real about China
20 November 2025
Encompass
For some years, European governments and the EU have had China policies designed to reflect a balanced approach to Beijing – neither too confrontational nor too deferential.
Wie der Autoindustrie wirklich geholfen werden kann
27 October 2025
Die Zeit
Lucas Guttenberg, Nils Redeker und Sander Tordoir forschen bei der Bertelsmann-Stiftung, dem Jaques Delors Zentrum und dem Centre for European Reform zur Zukunft Europas. Hier schreiben sie über ihre gemeinsame Vision für die europäische Autoindustrie.
Europe’s climate future calls for smart enlargement
13 October 2025
Encompass
As it prepares for another wave of enlargement, bringing in candidate countries from the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe, Brussels faces a critical challenge: how to expand while maintaining its climate ambitions.
Taking the Pulse: Does France's political crisis weaken Europe's geopolitical hand?
09 October 2025
Carnegie Endowment
France's political permacrisis is bad news for European rearmament efforts. As long as there is political instability, discussions on the country's budget, including defense allocations, will continue to be held hostage.
Der zweite China-Schock: Wogegen sich Deutschland und Europa wappnen müssen
24 July 2025
Die Politische Meinung
Die deutsche Industrie gerät unter Druck – nicht durch Innovationsrückstände, sondern durch eine strukturelle globale Verschiebung: China produziert am Bedarf vorbei, die USA schotten sich ab, und Deutschland verliert Teile seiner traditionellen Exportmärkte.
For European economic policy, the new world has yet to be born
23 July 2025
Intereconomics
As Europe revisits its economic strategy – spurred by calls to “make Europe competitive again” – it must move beyond stylised contrasts and ask what it takes to build and scale technological capacity today.
Press
Kemi Badenoch cites Brexit as ‘shock’ to UK
09 December 2025
Financial Times
A 2018 Whitehall study estimated that leaving the EU customs union was responsible for about 1 per cent of lost GDP, according to John Springford of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. However, he cautioned that re-forming a customs union with the EU would not necessarily recoup all of those losses, given the lasting impact of Brexit on investment in critical industries such as carmaking.
The great slowdown: Germany at a standstill as 'China shock' hits
06 December 2025
South China Morning Post
"The China shock is now macro-critical for Germany: the collapse in German exports to China since the peak already amounts to a hit of roughly 1 per cent of GDP," said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.
David Lammy ‘opens a can of worms’ over EU customs union
05 December 2025
The Times
The Centre for European Reform think-tank has suggested that the reset would raise GDP by only about 0.3 per cent in the long run.
Friedrich Merz, Ursula von der Leyen et Manfred Weber, le trio allemand qui impose son agenda à l’Europe
05 December 2025
Le Figaro
« Merz a décidé de réengager l’Allemagne sur la scène européenne. Il a besoin de von der Leyen pour pousser à Bruxelles son agenda économique allemand », souligne Sander Tordoir, économiste au Centre for European Reform, à Berlin.
Brexit Britain is flirting with the EU again — but Brussels is pretty busy
04 December 2025
Politico
Economists at the Centre for European Reform reckon that the government's reset package — if delivered in full — is worth somewhere between 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent of UK GDP over a decade.
Starmer rejects idea Labour could rejoin customs union
03 December 2025
The Times
Under the prime minister’s current plans for a reset with the bloc, GDP is expected to grow by as little as 0.3 per cent, according to an analysis last year by the Centre for European Reform.
Brussels rejects Dutch request to dump manure on fields
02 December 2025
Financial Times
Sander Tordoir, chief economist of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said the next government had to act. “Policy drift has produced a three-way freeze: developers face prolonged permit uncertainty, investors lack confidence to commit capital and farmers remain stuck between shifting targets. “Meanwhile, the environmental and economic costs continue to accumulate. The government has few painless options, but inaction is clearly the worst.”
In Germany, Merz's economic program comes under fire
02 December 2025
Le Monde
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, welcomed the return of subsidies for electric and hybrid vehicles, which will include a "local content" requirement, expected to ease pressure on the beleaguered automotive industry. "Starting by stimulating consumption, in a situation where both domestic and external demand are very weak, is not a bad idea, even if it is not as effective in the long run as investing in infrastructure or education," he said.
Who killed Europe’s single market dream?
01 December 2025
Financial Times
“Germany has historically lacked a comparative advantage in services and resisted integration for fear of competition from countries stronger in this area,” said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. “In the long run, Germany too would benefit from deeper capital and services markets, but in the short run, integration means more competition and disruption.”
Three killed and 500,000 without power as Russia launches 36 missiles and hundreds of drones at Ukraine
29 November 2025
EU Today
Analytical work, including that by Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform, has documented how Russian forces have shifted from purely military targets to systematic attacks on power generation and distribution, with a significant proportion of capacity knocked out in earlier waves.
Podcasts
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The far right and democratic backsliding in Europe
03 December 2025
Armida van Rij, Zselyke Csaky and Catherine E. De Vries discuss the far right and the state of democracy in Europe.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The instability of Macron’s France
19 November 2025
Charles Grant and Sophie Pedder discuss France and Macron's immediate problems.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The causes of the rise of populism
05 November 2025
Ben Ansell, Zselyke Csaky and John Springford discuss the causes and consequences of right-wing populism.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: Russia's negotiating tactics & Ukraine's negotiating objectives
21 October 2025
Ian Bond, Donald Jensen & Iuliia Osmolovska discuss Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The economic future of EU tech regulation
17 October 2025
Zach Meyers and Sander Tordoir discuss tech and tech regulation.
Events
CER/Swedish Enterprise discussion on 'Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security'
10 December 2025
Brussels
With Aslak Berg, Zach Meyers, Lotta Nymann-Lindegren, Maive Rute and Anna Stellinger.
Conference on 'Europe's precarious bid for third pole economic power'
21 November 2025 to 22 November 2025
Ditchley Park, UK
Panel discussion and private viewing of 'Come with Us! - Democratic Transformations in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989'
11 November 2025
London
With Václav Bartuška, Ferenc Kumin, Laura Popescu, Asta Radikaitė and Pedro Serrano
Discussion on 'Scenarios for the future of Russia's war against Ukraine'
20 October 2025
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Lawrence Freedman, Iuliia Osmolovska and Oleg Synianskyi
CER/Kreab breakfast on 'How Europe can navigate geopolitical turbulence'
16 October 2025
Brussels
With Olof Skoog, Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs, European External Action Service