Press

“In terms of the countries exposed to Brexit, the Netherlands is one of the biggest,” John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London, said on Thursday by phone.“No-deal Brexit would be the largest hit, but all of the different scenarios are going to entail some sort of economic cost,” he added.

Franco-Italian friction From migration to the euro, Luigi Scazzieri at the Centre for European Reform charts the deterioration in Franco-Italian relations in the last year and why Rome will ultimately be the big loser: “Less frequent dialogue means relations are already damaged: in 2018, Italy and France did not hold an annual bilateral summit, as they usually do. And a planned ‘Quirinale Treaty’, an Italian-French pact modelled on the Élysée Treaty and designed to provide bilateral relations with more structure, is now frozen.”

European army expert and researcher for the Centre for European Reform Sophia Besch explained that French President Emmanuel Macron wishes to create a more unified Europe that does not rely so heavily on the US. During an interview with Express.co.uk, the researcher revealed Mr Macron wants Europe to be better prepared for European military threats and believes an EU army would allow him to achieve that. The EU army expert said: “I think for Emmanuel Macron the idea is meant to inspire, it is part of his pro-EU platform.

As well as being trapped by the ghosts of Ostpolitik, Nord Stream 2 is also beset by another German character trait: reverence for the letter of the law (or treaty), reckons Sophia Besch of the Centre for European Reform.

Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, called for a comprehensive rewrite of the budgetary rules, which he argued amplified the booms and busts of the eurozone economy.“Europe’s fiscal rules do not allow enough stimulus in a recession, and allow too much spending during a boom,” he said. “An overhaul of the fiscal rules to protect investment spending and prescribe strongly counter-cyclical policies would help to counter the current slowdown.”

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, told BuzzFeed News: “As with most technical/technological solutions to the Irish border, this proposal stumbles over the same issue: how do you differentiate between those people who play by the rules, those who don’t and those who simply decide not play whatsoever?

Sam Lowe, of the London-based Centre for European Reform, says patience and goodwill are running thin. “The EU is growing tired of Brexit, and increasingly views it as an opportunity cost, pulling resources away from other important business,” he says. “The EU needs the UK to decide whether it wants to leave with a deal that looks substantially like the one already on the table, leave without one, or call the whole thing off.”