Press
PBS Newshour: John Springford
09 June 2017
John Springford, director of research at the CER, talks to PBS Newshour about the UK election result and what this means for Brexit negotiations with the EU.
Le revers de Theresa May va compliquer encore les négociations du Brexit
09 June 2017
Le Temps
«Theresa May ne pourra pas rester au pouvoir et elle démissionnera: elle a perdu toute crédibilité au sein de son parti», estiment Simon Tilford et John Springford, du Centre for European Reform, un think tank britannique. Si c’est le cas, une période d’environ deux mois s’ouvrira pour élire un nouveau leader des conservateurs. Le vainqueur définira alors une nouvelle position sur le Brexit et les négociations devront attendre.
Is a softer Brexit on the cards?
09 June 2017
Financial Times
Simon Tilford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, says that the result offers some succour to those who voted Remain in last year’s referendum.
TVN 24 BIS: Brytyjczycy głosują w wyborach. Co się zmieni?
08 June 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TVN 24 Bis about the UK elections and Brexit.
Der Schlüssel für Macrons Erfolg liegt auch bei der EZB
08 June 2017
Makronom
Die heutige EZB-Sitzung hat gezeigt, dass die Zentralbank offenbar gewillt ist, dem politischen Druck zu widerstehen und ihre aggressive Geldpolitik beizubehalten. Das ist die richtige Entscheidung – und insbesondere für Emmanuel Macron enorm wichtig. Denn aus Deutschland wird Frankreichs Präsident wohl nur sehr bedingt die Unterstützung erhalten, die er für eine erfolgreiche Amtszeit braucht.
TOK FM: Wybory parlamentarne w Wielkiej Brytanii - Partia Konserwatywna bliska zwycięstwa?
08 June 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TOK FM about the UK elections.
An election that offered few answers
08 June 2017
Politico
“We’ve learnt nothing [about Brexit] because it suits Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn to say next to nothing about it,” said Charles Grant, director of the independent Centre for European Reform think-tank.“The political leaders have conspired to pull the wool over the eyes of the British people and avoid explaining that Brexit means painful choices.”
Crossing fingers for Corbyn
08 June 2017
Handelsblatt Global
A disorderly Brexit would trigger a sharp depreciation of the pound, rising inflation and causing a “deep recession” in Britain, warned economists John Springford and Simon Tilford of the London-based Centre for European Reform.
After the election, the real test: Brexit
08 June 2017
The Economist
Officials liken the [Brexit] process to accession negotiations in reverse. That is not reassuring for Britain: as Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, notes, accession talks consist more of take-it-or-leave-it offers than real negotiations. And so far the EU 27 have proved both united and hardline.
Elections in UK and France reveal diverging EU paths
08 June 2017
Fox Business
"The elites in Britain and France have always had very different views on the merits of EU membership," says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
What today’s UK election means for Britain and Europe
08 June 2017
Quartz
The remaining 27 members of the EU would “cautiously welcome Theresa May having a larger majority,” John Springford, policy director of research at Centre for European Reform, tells Quartz. “It means they have someone with a strong personal mandate to negotiate with and any agreement that they put together is less likely to fall apart.”
CER podcast: UK election primer
07 June 2017
On the day before the UK general election, Charles Grant and Simon Tilford discuss current polls, the effect of recent attacks on voting, which issues were not sufficiently discussed in the campaigns and what would be the best possible election result for Europe.
Cracks in co-operation
07 June 2017
Financial Times
But in the event of a hard Brexit, these cracks may become crevices. Post-Brexit “security co-operation will be weakened”, says Camino Mortera-Martinez, an expert in home affairs at the Centre for European Reform. “It doesn't mean there will be more attacks, but it does mean that it will be difficult to cooperate smoothly and quickly.”
Why Prime Minister May is wrong to say no Brexit deal is better than a bad deal
07 June 2017
CNBC
"The costs to the UK economy of failing to strike a deal would dwarf those of signing up to a bad deal," authors John Springford, director of research, and Simon Tilford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, suggested.
Theresa May's dilemma over Donald Trump
06 June 2017
Financial Times
“The risk for the British if they ally themselves too closely to Trump is that they will give the impression that Britain and the US are now very much of the same mindset,” says Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform. “They will look like two nations that are prepared to back out of international treaties, [are] committed to heavy deregulation, to maintaining low tax economies and courting the current wave of populism in their nations.”
How will the UK election result affect Brexit? What happens if the Conservatives win?
06 June 2017
The Express
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform (CER), said Britain is more likely to crash out without a deal if it refuses to make compromises on these issues. “It is hard to see how Theresa May will be able to make those compromises if she has a small majority,” Mr Grant said. “If she has a large majority, she can afford to have a Tory rebellion on the back benches… “A large majority means she is more able to choose if she makes compromises. We don’t know if she really wants to.”
CER podcast: Why no deal is not better than a bad deal
05 June 2017
Simon Tilford and John Springford lay out in detail how leaving the EU without a deal would damage the British economy.
Trade realities expose the absurdity of a Brexit 'no deal'
01 June 2017
Financial Times
The UK has imposed a diversion of effort upon its partners at an exceptionally testing time. It has undermined the credibility of a project viewed as existential by many of its members, including its most powerful ones. Brexiters have poured ridicule and scorn on the whole venture. Now they imagine the UK can refuse the EU’s terms for an amicable divorce and yet still count upon active and enthusiastic co-operation in ensuring the smooth flow of trade. The idea of “no deal” is just ridiculous [writes John Springford and Simon Tilford of the Centre for European reform].
CER podcast: Strategic co-operation and competition in the Arctic
01 June 2017
Recording at the CER's Arctic Bridge Summit in Finland, Sophia Besch talks to Elisabeth Braw and Ethan Corbin about security challenges in the Arctic and how Russia and Europe could co-operate in the region.
Brexit has prompted unity - but not in Britain
31 May 2017
The New European
As Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska of the CER explains, “the sense across Europe is that there is a lot at stake – even the fate of the EU. The EU27 need it to be clear that Britain’s relationship with the EU after withdrawal cannot compare to the benefits of membership. If the UK was offered preferential treatment after Brexit, it could encourage Eurosceptics in other member states to push for a renegotiation of their terms of membership”.