Press

Democratisation and reform are badly needed but Erdogan is going about it the wrong way, said Katinka Barysch of the Centre for European Reform. "A changing Turkey needs a new system of checks and balances … Nevertheless, the system that now seems to be emerging is flawed," she wrote. Erdogan's reforms "smack of political manoeuvring and could discredit the process of constitutional renewal" while the established opposition parties "lack a vision for a modern, dynamic Turkey".

"The problem now is he's in charge of an institution which is supposed to be the guardian of the euro, but a lot of the decisions that are going to affect the future of the single currency are out of his hands," says Philip Whyte, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a pro-European think tank based in London.

"This is not a defining moment for the euro zone. What is concerning is that at every stage in recent weeks the EU has been resisting the inevitable and has been forced into action by financial markets," said Simon Tilford, an economic analyst at the London based Centre for European Reform think tank. "The immediate danger is averted but very little has been done to address longer-term problems. This is not a blueprint for additional crises. It might work for another small country like Portugal but not a big country like Italy or Spain."

"A shared tragedy of this sort could give a boost to further improvement in Polish-Russian relations, which ... were on the mend," said Tomas Valasek of the Centre for European Reform. "This tragedy might accelerate that trend."

"It is clear that the financial crisis and the cutbacks have forced countries to ask themselves some difficult questions," said Clara O'Donnell, a defence specialist with the Centre for European Reform. "Should they specialise themselves? Should they cooperate?" ... "Until recently, the UK was able to maintain armed forces that were prepared for all tasks imaginable," O'Donnell said. "Now the financial problem has become so pressing that people have to face up to the fact some tasks may have to be abandoned altogether.

As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform has told Left Foot Forward: ‘The European parliament has been one of the clear winners from the Lisbon treaty and is stronger now than it's ever been before. This is particularly true in relation to justice and home affairs issues, international security and environmental action. It is absolutely critical that whoever wins the British election is able to exert influence in the European parliament in Britain's best interests.'

It woud be "misguided" for the AKP to hastily adopt a new constitution now in an attempt to ensure its own political survival, writes analyst Katinka Barysch in an insight article for the Centre for European Reform. "Such a strategy may work, in the sense that it would prevent a 'judicial coup' against the government. But it would hardly assuage the concerns of those who suspect the AKP of using democracy as a means to pursue a hidden agenda of Islamisation," Barysch writes.

But Europe is not ready for a serious discussion with Washington, said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research group based in London. "You can't build a good transatlantic relationship unless you have a Europe that knows what it wants," he said. On the issues that Washington cares most about, Mr. Grant said, the Europeans are divided or their common position weak. And the euro crisis, he said, "means we're introspective."

The chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London, Simon Tilford, believes EU leaders will come up with some kind of minimum deal in Brussels. But he thinks it will fail to give Greece the support it needs nor will it offer long term solutions for other struggling European economies. "I think Greece faces a very, very tough time," he said. "They are going to struggle to retain the confidence of the financial markets.