Charles Grant

Charles Grant

Director
Areas of expertise 

Britain's EU referendum, the 'future of Europe' debate, the euro, Russia, European foreign and defence policy and China's relations with the West.

Twitter 
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Why treaty change matters for business and for Britain

Why treaty change matters for business and for Britain

21 May 2007
If Britain blocks Germany's plans to forge an agreement on a new EU treaty, the consequences would be grim, according to this policy brief published by the Centre for European Reform and Business for New Europe.
Insight

Nicolas Sarkozy: Turkophobe and protectionist?

08 May 2007
Most EU governments wanted Nicolas Sarkozy to win the presidential election. They think his liberalising economic agenda stands a fair chance of boosting France’s lacklustre economic performance.
The EU and Arab reform

The EU and Arab reform

27 April 2007
The Arab Reform Initiative held its annual conference in Amman, Jordan, on 18th April. Founded in 2005, ARI is a consortium of a dozen research centres that advocate peaceful and gradual political, economic and social reform in the region. A few non-Arab think-tanks are also involved, including the Centre for European Reform, but it is very much led and managed by Arab research centres. The CER is part of ARI because it believes that ARI offers an excellent opportunity to encourage reform in a region that is deeply suspicious of outside influence.
The EU, the US and Taiwan

The EU, the US and Taiwan

16 April 2007
Taiwanese domestic politics is nasty and messy. The two main political forces – the KMT, which believes in ‘one China’, and the DPP, which leans towards an independent Taiwan – hate each other with venom that is unmatched in most other functioning democracies.
Britain and the EU: a crisis looms file thumbnail

Britain and the EU: a crisis looms

02 April 2007
British politicians are too complacent about Germany’s plan to salvage large parts of the EU constitutional treaty. They assume that other countries will reject the German presidency’s scheme, so sparing Britain from isolation. Indeed, there is now a consensus that stretches from UK treasury officials to Conservative leaders to The...
The view from 2027

The view from 2027

22 March 2007
Given how much respect and esteem most Europeans feel for the EU today, one can easily forget that when it celebrated its 50th birthday, in 2007, it was widely disliked and mistrusted.
Has Germany been Finlandised (and has Britain)?

Has Germany been Finlandised (and has Britain)?

21 December 2006
During the Cold War, Finland was a prosperous, liberal democracy. But its leaders felt unable to criticise the Soviet Union, particularly on questions of foreign policy.
The bulletin at fifty file thumbnail

The bulletin at fifty

02 October 2006
The CER opened its office in January 1998. Soon afterwards we established the bulletin as a forum for debate on European reform – both for our staff, and for external contributors.
Europe's blurred boundaries

Europe's blurred boundaries: Rethinking enlargement and neighbourhood policy

02 October 2006
In many parts of the EU there is growing hostility to further enlargement. Charles Grant argues that the EU must keep open the prospect of accession for its European neighbours, and suggests how opposition to enlargement can best be overcome.
A compact between China and the European Union file thumbnail

A compact between China and the European Union

CER - FPC - DGAP - Chinese Academy of Social Sciences - Asia Centre
05 September 2006
Both the European Union and China are committed to giving the Sino-European relationship a genuinely strategic dimension. Since they announced this objective in 2004, there has been a blossoming of 'strategic dialogues', both bilateral and multilateral. These have ensured that broader strategic and geo-political issues are now on the agenda...