Press
Nine out of ten countries developing central bank digital currencies
06 May 2022
Tech Monitor
Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank, told Tech Monitor in January that he believes much of the interest in CBDCs is driven by fear of missing out, particularly since China became the first major economy to trial a digital currency, the e-CNY, in April 2020. "None of [the central banks] want to be seen as falling behind," Meyers said "They look at what's happening in China and think 'we need to have that as well'."
Britain has become unexpectedly European
06 May 2022
The Economist
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform (CER), a think-tank, recalls that Germany and France seriously feared that post-Brexit Britain would move towards a low-tax, low-regulation version of “Singapore-on-Thames”, which is why they insisted on strong level-playing-field conditions in the trade deal. But in practice there has been little sign of such a shift.
BBC Radio 4 - The Briefing Room: How has the war in Ukraine changed German politics?
05 May 2022
Sophia Besch joined others to discuss the biggest shift in German foreign policy since the Cold War (from 15:30 mins).
Deutsche Welle - Inside Europe podcast: 05.05.2022
05 May 2022
Elisabetta Cornago spoke on Deutsche Welle's 'Inside Europe' podcast about the EU's plans to phase out Russian oil, the consequences of this and the bigger picture of Europe's energy security.
EU immigration is broken. Brussels is unlikely to be able to fix it
04 May 2022
Euro News
"I am sceptical that the Commission's proposals will reduce illegal migration, at least in the short term. There will always be people who don't neatly fit into a skill category but still want to migrate, or who are in the EU already but with an expiring visa and wish to stay but have no legal way to do so," Luigi Scazzieri, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER) told Euronews.
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron continue ‘entente uncordial’ and ignore each other
04 May 2022
The Times
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said those in London who hoped the French presidential election would precipitate a move by Macron to improve relations were likely to be disappointed. “From the French perspective there is little desire for a reset while Johnson remains in Downing Street,” he said.
LBC: Tonight with Andrew Marr
04 May 2022
Charles Grant, director of the CER spoke to Andrew Marr about the break down in relations between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron (from 36.30 mins).
Can the European Political Community bring the UK and EU closer?
01 May 2022
Encompass
The European Political Community (EPC) is Europe’s newest political forum. The EPC is the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron. It was born in October 2022 in Prague, with forty-three European leaders taking part in its inaugural summit.
Emmanuel Macron is now Europe’s standard-bearer
30 April 2022
The Economist
“We live in a French EU at the moment,” says Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank based in London.
Elon Musk's Twitter test
29 April 2022
Project Syndicate
The world’s richest person will be free to emasculate Twitter's content restrictions in the name of free speech if that is what he wishes to do. But he may reconsider once he realizes the great responsibility that digital freedom now implies.
Judy Asks: Is Finnish and Swedish NATO membership useful for European security?
28 April 2022
Carnegie Europe
Russia’s renewed attack on Ukraine has forced European countries to think about their own safety rather than grand designs for pan-European security architecture.
TRT World: Russia attacks Ukraine - Three explosions reported on Monday and Tuesday in Transnistria
28 April 2022
Ian Bond tells TRT World that whilst it is Putin's interests to keep Transnistria destabilised, (region in Moldova that Russia uses as a base for some intelligence operations), with just 1,500 Russian troops there, it's unlikely he'd launch a full-scale attack on Ukraine from that side.
Reelection bolsters France's Macron as powerful player in EU
27 April 2022
The Independent
“Macron won’t have everything his own way,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. “Some Central and Eastern European member-states will oppose French policies, the British will remain a headache and the Germans may thwart some French ideas.”
EU regulator cautions Twitter on content moderation
26 April 2022
The Wall Street Journal
The EU’s new legislation won’t prevent Mr. Musk from taking a more free-speech-oriented approach, said Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow with the Centre for European Reform think-tank. However, he said Twitter will still need to comply with rules on the removal of illegal content, which would likely require hiring more people to deal with content moderation and complaints.
EU official Tweets a warning to Elon Musk
26 April 2022
Bloomberg
Twitter’s current terms of use prohibit a range of content not necessarily illegal, for example, expressing a wish that someone dies or posting excessively violent content, said Zach Meyers, a senior researcher at the think-tank the Centre for European Reform. “Twitter would be free to loosen its current content moderation policies while still complying with the DSA – for example, by reversing the ban on Trump,” Meyers said.
Don’t expect Macron’s win to reset UK-France ties
25 April 2022
Politico
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank, predicted that a reset in the Franco-British relationship won’t happen until Johnson ceases to be prime minister, and warned that contempt for the U.K. leader at the Elysée should not be underestimated.“The truth is that Macron doesn’t like Boris Johnson at all,” Grant said. “It is not just electoral politics — he really is fed up with Johnson. [The French] think Johnson is not an honest or a serious person they can deal with. That’s going to continue.”
New EU power to fine big tech billions in crackdown on hate speech, disinformation and harmful content
23 April 2022
Sky News
"The big tech firms will heavily resist other countries adopting similar rules, and I cannot imagine the firms voluntarily applying these rules outside the EU,", said Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.
EU law targets Big Tech over hate speech, disinformation
23 April 2022
AP News
But they’re unlikely to do so voluntarily, said Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. There is just too much money on the line if a company like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is restricted in how it can target advertising at specific groups of users.“The big tech firms will heavily resist other countries adopting similar rules, and I cannot imagine the firms voluntarily applying these rules outside the EU,” Meyers said.
Por qué una victoria de Le Pen en Francia provocaría el colapso de la Unión Europea
23 April 2022
El Espanol
"La UE en tanto que proyecto no se puede permitir una victoria de Marine Le Pen. Porque aunque ella haya bajado el tono por lo que se refiere al Frexit y la salida del euro, su proyecto significa una obstrucción desde dentro, al estilo polaco o húngaro. La diferencia es que no es lo mismo tener este estilo agresivo contra la UE en Polonia y Hungría que en pleno motor franco-alemán", explica a EL ESPAÑOL Camino Mortera-Martínez, directora de la oficina en Bruselas del Centre for European Reform.
France is about to vote for its president. The West is watching anxiously.
22 April 2022
NBC News
Nonetheless, Ian Bond, a senior British diplomat for almost 30 years who is now director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said a Le Pen win could mean the end of France’s historical trans-Atlantic defense role. “The French were quite often quite difficult in NATO discussions,” he said.“But where the French didn’t go was to suggest, ‘Actually the Soviet Union isn’t that dangerous, is it?’ They accepted the case that the Soviet Union was the big problem that we had to face. And if Le Pen doesn’t accept that that is true of Russia, then that is problematic.”