Press
This Brexit shortcut looks like a dead end
08 December 2017
The Times
In its report on Canada-plus, the Centre for European Reform says Canada’s businesses “are aligning to European standards in many sectors like food, chemicals and electrical equipment. In contrast, the EU has not changed a single technical regulation in response to the agreement.” “Align” means for Canada, as it will for us, “fall into line”.
Brexit breakthrough? Yes, but now the hard work begins
08 December 2017
CNN Money
"For the moment, the UK still does not know what it wants," said Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. "The government hasn't made its position clear on what kind of future relationship it wants."
CER podcast: Will there be reforms for the eurozone?
08 December 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Sophia Besch review the Commission's new proposals for eurozone reform, and look at what EU leaders should discuss at the euro summit next week in Brussels.
This Brexit deal is no 'breakthrough'. It is a complete capitulation
08 December 2017
The Telegraph
On November 29, Charles Grant, of the well-informed anti-Brexit think tank the Centre for European Reform, published his 10 predictions for the whole Brexit process. Within eight days, his first four – on Ireland, money, citizens’ rights and transition – have been proved correct.On citizens’ rights, for example, he foretold that: “May will accept that the Withdrawal Treaty, enshrining the rights of EU citizens, has greater legal force than any subsequent UK legislation. And she will agree that UK courts may refer cases on rights to the ECJ.”
Brexit negotiations will only get harder
08 December 2017
The Atlantic
“You could imagine that if she had won that election with a very big majority, that the right of the Conservative party would not be in the kind of position to dictate terms that it’s in now,” John Springford, the director of research at the London-based Centre for European Reform, told me in reference May’s failed election gambit in June. Though she called elections expecting to expand her majority in Parliament, her Conservative party instead lost the majority it had. “She would have much more authority and freedom for maneuver in the negotiations.”
May's Brexit deal wins her some peace at home
08 December 2017
The Daily Mail
"It means that 'no deal' overall is less likely," said Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. But the toughest part of the negotiations could be yet to come, with Britain looking to agree a huge free trade deal before March 2019 - a tight timetable seen as unrealistic by Brussels. "In phase two it will emerge that the EU is going to give us a pretty bad deal in terms of what's in our economic interests," Grant said.
Phase one of the Brexit talks is proving hard. Just wait for phase two
07 December 2017
The Economist
Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank, argues that phase two will be much tougher to negotiate than phase one. The clock is ticking towards March 29th 2019, when Brexit is due to happen. It will be hard to agree on a legally watertight, time-limited transition, not least because few experts think a new trade deal can be wrapped up (and ratified) within two years. And when it comes to the trade deal on offer, the EU will say that, if Britain insists on leaving the single market and customs union and retaining the option of regulatory divergence, it can only have a deal similar to Canada’s, which covers most goods but barely any services.
Marketplace: Angela Merkel's woes echo beyond Germany's borders
07 December 2017
John Springford of the Centre for European Reform said, given the political cloud still hanging over Merkel, she’s less likely to respond positively to Macron’s plan. “If she doesn’t have a stable coalition, it would be very difficult for her to give Macron very much at all,” he said (from 1 min 58).
Judy Asks: Is multilateralism on the wane?
06 December 2017
Carnegie Europe
Multilateral organizations have often been ignored by individual states: the Soviet Union defied the United Nations after its 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
Tok FM: Co dalej z porozumieniem w sprawie Brexitu?
06 December 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska speaks to Tok FM about the Commission’s eurozone proposals and Brexit.
Phase 2 talks could be picked up in New Year - Varadkar
06 December 2017
RTE News
Director of the Centre for European Reform Charles Grant said he believes the recent setback on the border issue has weakened London's position and set off reverberations in Scotland, which will now seek a similar deal to Northern Ireland. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Grant said unless Britain stays in the customs union and the single market, there will have to be border controls between the UK and the EU. He added that customs unions need to be policed and the British government appears to be avoiding this issue.
Nowe zmartwienia Polski i innych krajów „drugiej prędkości” w UE
06 December 2017
Deutsche Welle
W Brukseli nikt nie liczy, że rozstrzygające dyskusje w tych sprawach zaczną się przed sformowaniem nowego rządu w Niemczech. – Francuskie pomysły napotkają silny sprzeciw, bo rzucają wyzwanie gospodarczej ortodoksji w północnych krajach UE – tłumaczy Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska z Centre for European Reform, autorka analizy „Nowy deal dla eurolandu: lekarstwo czy placebo?”. Niemiecki minister finansów Peter Altmaier już wczoraj publicznie powątpiewał, czy strefa euro potrzebuje nowych narzędzi do pomocy w razie wstrząsów ekonomicznych.
The case for a slow-motion Brexit
05 December 2017
Prospect
Recent chaos in the negotiations shows that a two-year "implementation period" is entirely unrealistic.
Europe must guide Trump on Iran nuclear deal
05 December 2017
EurActiv
North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test is an unsettling reminder of what happens when there is no agreement in place to moderate the behaviour of a bellicose regime.
Surge in capital investment drives better than expected Hungary growth
05 December 2017
Financial Times
However, a report released last week by the Centre for European Reform think-tank suggested that “average households have not seen enough of the fruits of economic growth”, with worker compensation growing more slowly than GDP and consumption falling as a share of overall spending.Tuesday’s data highlighted the potential for such trends to continue. Household consumption did rise by a healthy 4.4 per cent year on year in the third quarter, but that paled in comparison with a 20 per cent surge in fixed capital formation.
'Britain will cave to EU demands' Theresa May to accept Brexit deal on Europe's terms
02 December 2017
The Express
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the talks on the UK’s exit from the EU have made progress on main key issues such as citizens’ right and the Irish border. And Europhile said the European Council may even declare that Britain has made “sufficient progress” when it meets in December. But he warned Theresa May’s troubles were “far from over” and the Prime Minister will eventually be forced to cave into the EU’s demands if she hopes to get anywhere with trade talks. Writing in the Financial Times, the EU expert claims the negotiations are “turning out like accession talks in reverse”. He wrote: “When a country joins the EU, the talks are called 'negotiations' to humour the applicant.
Europe holds all the cards in the Brexit talks
01 December 2017
Financial Times
EU negotiators are confident Britain will eventually accept a deal on their terms.
Het is erop of eronder voor een ordentelijke Brexit
01 December 2017
NRC Handelsblad
De stroomversnelling waar de Brexitonderhandeling in beland is, neemt niet weg niet dat de gesprekken moeizaam verliepen. „Het beperkte begrip van Britse politici van hoe de EU werkt, was problematisch”, zegt Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, onderzoeker bij de Londense denktank Centre for European Reform.
A political fog on eurozone reform — courtesy of Paris and Berlin
30 November 2017
Politico
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, resonates with the German electorate. “There is no macroeconomic narrative in Germany about the euro crisis,” he said. “It’s all about Germany having to pay for others.”
Europe wanted migrants stopped. Now some are being sold as slaves.
30 November 2017
The New York Times
“The tragic and morally unjustifiable thing about this is that European Union policy is certainly a part of why this is happening,” John Springford, who studies migration at the Centre for European Reform, a research organisation in London. “But whether that will lead to a change in direction, I am doubtful.”