Research
Rearming Europe for deterrence: Short-term priorities and policy options
09 June 2026
There are key steps European governments can take in the next 1-2 years to accelerate rearmament, readiness and deterrence efforts.
Europe has produced tech champions: Here is what they can teach us
27 May 2026
Despite the gloom about its place in the digital economy, Europe has produced tech leaders.
China shock 2.0: The cost of Germany's complacency
20 May 2026
Germany is ground zero of the second China shock, but Berlin is not fighting back, even as the shock erodes the country’s engineering sectors that are vital to its economic security.
The EU is trying to speak the language of power in Africa, but what is it saying?
01 May 2026
Africa is currently the continent with the largest number of armed conflicts in the world – over 50 – representing 40 per cent of all wars globally. This is a 45 per cent increase since 2020.
What Orbán’s departure means for Hungary and for Europe
14 April 2026
Hungary’s voters have ended Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. Tisza’s win is a unique chance to restore democracy – and a time-limited opportunity for the EU to emerge stronger.
Energy shock 2.0: Lessons from 2022 for the Hormuz crisis
13 April 2026
If the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, Europe will face as serious an energy crisis as it did in 2022. This time, energy poverty policies must be more targeted, and electrification more ambitious.
One year liberation day: The delusion of transatlantic economic divorce
07 April 2026
A year after Liberation Day, Washington and Brussels are still fighting each other – not China.
WTO reform after Yaoundé: What next for the multilateral trade order?
02 April 2026
The failure of the WTO’s ‘reform ministerial’ deepens the strain on the global trade system. But it also points to a possible path for future co-operation among coalitions of the willing.
War in Iran: Who wins and who loses?
20 March 2026
The attack on Iran by the US and Israel is good news for Russia but bad news for Europe, including Ukraine, and ultimately for the US itself. China could emerge as a long-term winner. Europeans must look after their own interests, regardless of Trump’s wrath.
How to build public support for defence spending in Europe
10 March 2026
Strategies for building a national consensus around higher defence investments and the trade-offs required.
Articles
Industrie européenne : "La pression chinoise s'exerce sur trois fronts, c'est sans précédent !"
30 May 2026
L'Express
Le choc de compétitivité imposé par la Chine n’obéit pas aux règles habituelles. Pour résister, le Vieux Continent doit faire beaucoup plus, prévient l'économiste Sander Tordoir.
«Un retour à court terme du Royaume-Uni dans l’UE n’est politiquement pas réaliste»
07 May 2026
Le Temps
Le premier ministre britannique, Keir Starmer, multiplie les mesures pour rapprocher son pays de Bruxelles, par «intérêt national» pour contrer les effets désastreux du Brexit. Mais la question européenne reste ultrasensible outre-Manche. L'analyse de Charles Grant, directeur du Centre for European Reform.
Taking the Pulse: Is it worth it for Europeans to placate Trump?
07 May 2026
Carnegie Europe
A year and change into President Trump’s second term, it has become abundantly clear that appeasement only leads to short-term wins.
Magyar is up against the clock in Hungary
16 April 2026
Financial Times
Brussels and Budapest have a rare and fleeting chance to improve Europe’s defence and correct the bloc’s dysfunction.
Viktor Orbán is gone. What does his fall mean for Europe?
13 April 2026
The Guardian
Hungary’s return to democracy will be hard. But the impact of Péter Magyar’s decisive victory could be profound, inside the country and beyond.
Taking the Pulse: Can NATO Survive the Iran war?
09 April 2026
Carnegie Europe
Donald Trump has repeatedly bashed NATO and European allies, threatening to annex Canada and Greenland and deploring their lack of enthusiasm for his war of choice in Iran. Is this latest round of abuse the final straw?
Press
How Brexit has made Britain poorer
14 June 2026
The Guardian
John Springford, of the Centre for European Reform, said: “The investment strike started in 2016 and continued through to 2021-22, and then it started to rise again once certainty about the trading relationship had been established.
“That has an impact on productivity. It means workers don’t have the best kit, and existing capital [equipment and buildings] is deteriorating, so you certainly assign some of the GDP losses to that.
“Brexit is more a story of stagnation, and a slow puncture, than of recession and rising unemployment.”
Surging benefits bill pushes Germans into the arms of the far-Right
14 June 2026
The Telegraph
German goods are also struggling in China itself. Exports to China as a share of GDP have dropped 40pc in five years, which the Centre for European Reform reckons has cost 400,000 German jobs.
Has Brexit been a success? This is what the data shows
12 June 2026
The Times
John Springford, associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank, found that a model version of Britain — 31 per cent America, plus some Germany, Australia and others — was 5 per cent richer than actual Britain by 2022.
A trade war between the EU and China seems inevitable
11 June 2026
The Economist
Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser, in an analysis for the Centre for European Reform, think-tank, propose a European version of America’s Section 301 tool. This allows sweeping tariffs to counter practices harming American trade.
Once deemed a costly failure, industrial policy is making a return – led by China
10 June 2026
The Business Times
Another report furthering the debate is the Centre for European Reform report, China Shock 2.0: The Cost of Germany’s Complacency, released in May.It highlighted that China’s overall export volumes are growing at more than twice the speed of global trade, and called for a strengthened European Union toolbox to defend key sectors, including chemicals, batteries, clean tech and semiconductors.
Germany bears the brunt of China Shock 2.0
09 June 2026
Semafor
Nowhere is the new China shock reverberating globally “more consequential than in Germany,” Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser argued in a Center for European Reform report in May, but it is a problem of Berlin’s own making.
A ‘big bang’ reversal of Brexit is both unrealistic and unnecessary
08 June 2026
Financial Times
As Anton Spisak noted in a study of the latest EU-Swiss deal for the Centre for European Reform, the result is rather messy. But it may be workable.
Could Switzerland become the first country to cap its population?
08 June 2026
The New Yorker
John Springford, a fellow at the Centre for European Reform, has estimated that by mid-2022 Brexit had shaved five per cent off the UK’s GDP and reduced over-all trade by ten to fifteen per cent. The hit to trade would be especially painful for Switzerland, which has an export-dependent economy.
“You’re competing with other European countries to bring in labor,” Springford said. “That’s quite difficult. Migrants respond to those kind of incentives.” Nearly three-quarters of new doctors in Switzerland were trained outside the country.
“You’re competing with other European countries to bring in labor,” Springford said. “That’s quite difficult. Migrants respond to those kind of incentives.” Nearly three-quarters of new doctors in Switzerland were trained outside the country.
China is killing Europe’s chemicals industry. Brussels wants to intervene
07 June 2026
Politico
Brussels’ current trade defense policy is a “piecemeal, product-by-product” approach that is “no match for China’s macroeconomic distortions,” said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
The China Shock 2.0 could destroy Europe as we know it
03 June 2026
The Telegraph
“China Shock 2.0: the cost of Germany’s complacency” is the title of a new report by Sander Tordoir and Brad Setser for the Centre for European Reform. They said Germany was in the eye of the storm. Its core industries are being squeezed out of the Chinese market, third countries, and its own home market, all at the same time.“Much of the demand generated by Germany’s fiscal expansion could leak straight into Chinese imports and throttle Germany’s recovery,” they said.
Podcasts
CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: Rearming Europe for deterrence
10 June 2026
Ian Bond spoke with Armida van Rij and Michael Martin Richter about the new publication ‘Rearming Europe for deterrence’.
CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: The path to EU enlargement
01 June 2026
Zselyke Csaky spoke with Milan Nic about where EU enlargement is headed.
CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: How Europe is responding in Lebanon and Palestine
13 May 2026
Thomas Maddock spoke with Zizette Darkazally and Schams El Ghoneimi about Europe's response to conflict in Lebanon and Palestine.
CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: Is the EU-US trade deal unravelling?
06 May 2026
Anton Spisak spoke with Sam Lowe about the renewed EU-US trade tensions.
CER podcast: Unpacking Europe: Hungary's landslide election outcome
15 April 2026
Zselyke Csaky spoke with Zsuzsanna Szelényi about Hungary's landslide election outcome.
Events
CER/HSF discussion on 'Rearming Europe: Short-term priorities for personnel, public support and procurement'
09 June 2026
Brussels
With Andrius Avizius, Ionela Ciolan, Christophe Gomart, Benjamin Hartmann, Armida van Rij and Graham Webber
CER/Kreab breakfast on 'Leading Europe's agenda: Ireland's EU presidency in context'
03 June 2026
Brussels
With Aingeal O'Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the EU
CER/Kreab breakfast on 'One year of the Saving and Investments Union strategy: Lessons and perspectives'
26 May 2026
Brussels
With Maria Luís Albuquerque, Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Dinner on 'The euro area economy'
13 May 2026
London
With Philip Lane, Member, Executive Board, European Central Bank. Read Philip Lane's speech here.
CER Brussels conference: Can Europe be a global power?
18 March 2026
Brussels
With a keynote speech by Piotr Serafin, European Commissioner for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration. Watch videos of the event here.