Press
Germany and France want the EU to be able to cut China off from its market
06 October 2026
Rzeczpospolita
"What the two leading European capitals are signaling is a desire to change their approach and introduce a more structured, comprehensive set of policies to slow the impact of the second Chinese shock on European industry," points out Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
Frankrijk en Duitsland willen derde landen ‘volledig en direct’ kunnen uitsluiten van Europese markt
05 October 2026
BNR Nieuwsradio
De Chinese concurrentie doet Europese landen steeds meer pijn en kan de Europese industrie miljoenen banen kosten, zegt Ron Stoop, research fellow bij het Centre for European Reform. 'Eerder durfden ze hun eigen belangen in China niet op het spel te zetten, maar daar komt langzaam verandering in.'
Germany and France agree on last-resort tool against trade threats
05 October 2026
Financial Times
“It is a watershed moment for Germany,” said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. “Berlin is officially no longer naive about the trade and industrial policy war China has been waging on its industry, nor the currency manipulation that supercharges it.”
Germany and France want EU storm gates for China’s trade surge
05 October 2026
The Economist
If implemented through the EU's law-making apparatus, it [the letter] would mark a dramatic shift in how the bloc intends to confront China. The main novelty is a “second-strike capability”, as Sander Tordoir of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, puts it.
Merz and Macron want the EU to hit back harder — and faster — against trade threats
05 October 2026
Politico
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, called the letter and position paper a “watershed” moment. “What the two leading European capitals are signaling is that they want to flip the switch and have a more structured, comprehensive set of policies to slow down the impact of the second China shock on European industry,” said Tordoir, who has advocated that Europe adopt U.S.-style 301 tariffs in the past.
Ball in UK’s court: EU ambassador says Brussels will be ‘ready to engage‘ after country decides what it wants
05 October 2026
The Guardian
Charles Grant, the head of the Centre for European Reform, has said he cannot envisage Europe wanting the UK back as a full member unless there is a political consensus to rejoin inside the UK.
Burnham wants to revive British industry. This is why he’ll fail
04 October 2026
The Telegraph
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, warns the West’s “dangerous” dependency on imports is one of the main reasons policymakers in the US and Europe are pushing for reindustrialisation – with Beijing seen as a far from benevolent trading partner.“There is a deeper geostrategic rationale underlying the desire to reindustrialise,” Tordoir adds.
Does the EU want Britain back?
03 October 2026
Financial Times
This has helped crystallise the choices facing the UK — as have similar threats to the chemicals, nuclear and green hydrogen industries, according to Anton Spisak, a former UK Brexit negotiator now at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.
Andy Burnham is rethinking the UK’s ties with the EU. What are his options?
02 October 2026
Euronews
“This will have come as a moral boost for leaders,” Charles Grant, Director at the Centre for European Reform, told Euronews. “But EU officials will be thinking about the work that needs to be done now, and I think many of them will be quite hostile to what the British are saying.”
Au Royaume-Uni, Andy Burnham ouvre la voie à un « Breturn », le retour de son pays dans l’Union européenne
02 October 2026
Le Monde
» Selon une étude du Centre for European Reform, publiée en juin, « le Brexit a entraîné une baisse de 12 % des exportations britanniques vers l’UE et réduit de 16 % les importations de l’UE ».
Pourquoi la France reste si influente en Europe malgré ses faiblesses
02 October 2026
Le Point
Charles Grant, le directeur du Centre for European Reform (un laboratoire d’idées), a mis un nom sur cette anomalie en décembre 2025 : « le paradoxe de la puissance française ». Son constat tient en une phrase. Malgré le désordre parisien, la France demeure incontournable en politique industrielle, en commerce et en défense. L’élève du fond de la classe continue de rédiger les corrigés.
Andy Burnham's 'big gamble' to put London back at heart of Europe after Brexit blunder
01 October 2026
The Standard
‘If you rejoin the European Union, there'll be an economic boom,’ says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
Macron welcomes Burnham’s EU pitch, but Brussels may drive hard bargain
30 September 2026
The Times
Charles Grant, head of the Centre for European Reform, said the rise to power of populist right-wing Eurosceptic parties was stiffening resolve in Brussels to refuse concessions on the movement of people, such as Britain has been seeking.
There is also no appetite in the EU for Britain, one of the biggest European economies, to forge a Swiss-style piecemeal arrangement with the EU.
There is also no appetite in the EU for Britain, one of the biggest European economies, to forge a Swiss-style piecemeal arrangement with the EU.
Brexit years were grim and hateful – it’s time to rejoin
30 September 2026
iNews
According to researchers John Springford and Anton Spisak, “the single market accounted for the overwhelming majority of Brexit’s trade impact on UK-EU trade”.
Times Radio: UK rejoining the EU?
30 September 2026
"I think what's driving this is desire to get economic growth, because he [Andy Burnham] understands that what Starmer was doing with the nitty gritty piecemeal negotiations on things like youth mobility and merging the emissions trading schemes and so on, we're not going to deliver anything very dramatic in terms of economic growth.
Burnham’s EU push reopens Labour’s Brexit divide
28 September 2026
Politico
“In the short term I’m quite gloomy. I think the summit which was supposed to happen in November may not happen at all,” Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank told a fringe event. “Unless someone is willing to compromise there may not be a summit at all this year, I hope I’m wrong on that.”
‘China has arrived’: From $1,000 Gucci sneakers to German cars, China is coming for the industries that made Europe rich
27 September 2026
Fortune Magazine
“China has already eaten much of [the] German industry’s lunch and is preparing to start on dinner,” economists Brad Setser and Sander Tordoir wrote in May.
Unpacking Europe: Scaling innovation in Europe
24 September 2026
James Green spoke with Claudia-Dominique Geiser and Marlene Schörner on how to scale up innovation in Europe to strengthen economic competitiveness and support strategic technologies.
Germany’s military power is growing. That makes some Europeans uneasy
20 September 2026
The iPaper
No other country in Europe can bring such economic power to bear, said Armida van Rij, a European security specialist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “There is a recognition that we need Germany, in particular, because they have the fiscal headroom and they have the money,” she said, noting that France, Italy and the UK are “more constrained”.
Britain’s rush to net zero fuelled China’s energy dominance
20 September 2026
The Telegraph
The lesson here is that once an industrial ecosystem has been lost to China it is extremely difficult to rebuild, argues Sander Tordoir, the chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
“European governments have to think very carefully about ecosystem effects,” he adds.
...China has been able to build “massive industrial capabilities in the lower rungs of clean tech”, he says, before moving into the “higher rungs of the value chain”.
“European governments have to think very carefully about ecosystem effects,” he adds.
...China has been able to build “massive industrial capabilities in the lower rungs of clean tech”, he says, before moving into the “higher rungs of the value chain”.