Press

Brexit and the resurgence of terror

Camino Mortera-Martinez
25 May 2017
Financial Times
“After the general election, Theresa May is going to have to sell a softer message on ECJ oversight to the British people,” says Camino Mortera-Martinez of the Centre for European Reform. “This is essential if a bespoke deal on justice and home affairs is to be agreed.”

Solidarity pledges from Europe point to future security challenges

Camino Mortera-Martinez
23 May 2017
The Independent
Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow from the Centre for European Reform, says the attacks will renew the focus on security issues in the Brexit talks. “Every time there is a scare like this, it highlights that no country is alone,” she says. That the bombing was in Manchester also punctures the argument, prevalent during last year’s Brexit referendum campaign, linking mass migration with terrorism, she adds. “Just because you are outside the Schengen area, doesn’t mean you escape terrorism. Closing borders won’t shield you from the evils of the world,” Ms Mortera-Martinez says.

Europe's high anxiety over Trump

Sophia Besch
23 May 2017
US News
 But carefully worded platitudes will only serve to mask the reality that Trump's America is largely abdicating its NATO leadership role, weakening the once-durable military alliance. "Even if he commits to the alliance," says Sophia Besch, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, "given the erratic comments of the past, US leadership is still not there."

CER podcast: Why the UK voted to leave, and lessons for the EU 27

John Springford, Matthew Goodwin, Paul Whiteley and Florence Faucher
23 May 2017
CER podcast on the reasons the UK voted to leave, how these political trends played out in the French elections, and lessons for the EU 27.

Eurozone bounces back as growth beats US, Britain – But is it sustainable?

19 May 2017
Voice of America
“We’re seeing a cyclical recovery because we finally had the European Central Bank operating like a normal central bank and doing quantitative easing,” says analyst John Springford of the Centre for European Reform. ...Italy’s economy is still in the slow lane with annualized growth of just .8 percent. “It’s growing very slowly, its banks still haven’t been sorted out and there’s a lot of political instability,” says Springford.

Restoring the Franco-German leadership of the EU

18 May 2017
Open democracy
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform remarks that “Germany wants more fiscal discipline and new mechanisms to make countries like France and Italy engage in painful structural reform, while France wants more common instruments such as ‘Eurobonds’ and steps towards a transfer union.”

Flexible integration

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, Christian Odendahl
18 May 2017
Financial Times
After splits emerged between North and South in the euro crisis, and East and West over refugees, plus the Brexit referendum, the EU needs to be more flexible if it is to survive future challenges, writes Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform.

Macron's proposals are no panacea for eurozone

Simon Tilford
17 May 2017
The Wall Street Journal
The biggest problem with the euro is that it hasn’t delivered the economic convergence voters expected when it was launched; in fact, it has led to divergence. In 1999, living standards in Germany, France and Italy measured by gross domestic product per capita were broadly the same. Today Germany is significantly richer than France, while Italy has seen its GDP per capita slump from 119% of the EU average in 1999 to below 90% today.

CER podcast: The EU, Russia and China: Difficult neighbours?

Ian Bond, Sophia Besch
17 May 2017
In the week of the One Belt One Road Summit, Ian Bond talks about the complex relationships and rivalries between Russia, China and the EU, and how the EU should move forward to defuse tensions.
TOK FM: Brytyjska kampania wyborcza z brexitem w tle

TOK FM: Brytyjska kampania wyborcza z brexitem w tle

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
17 May 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TOK FM about the forthcoming UK elections and Brexit.
TVN24 BiS: Bruksela i Londyn przed starciem wagi ciężkiej. "Brytyjczycy będą musieli coś zapłacić"

TVN24 BiS: Bruksela i Londyn przed starciem wagi ciężkiej. "Brytyjczycy będą musieli coś zapłacić"

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
16 May 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TVN24 BiS about the UK election and its implications for the Brexit talks. 

Europe rightly tries to shape the rules of world trade

Rem Korteweg
15 May 2017
Financial Times
Rem Korteweg is quite right to argue in a new and important paper, published by the Centre for European Reform, that Europe should push to revive and complete the EU-US trade deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The main prize here is not primarily more trade, but for trade to be shaped in ways that spread the benefits equitably — including in such important areas as workers’ rights, consumer rights and environmental protection. In this regard, Korteweg is exactly right that a system of investment courts is unattractive and the EU should just drop its pursuit of them.

Brexit bullies turn on those sorting out their mess

14 May 2017
The Guardian
As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform delicately puts it, no civil servant appears to be free to tell the prime minister that what she wants cannot be delivered unless she backs down and accepts freedom of movement and a continuing role for the European court of justice.

Szymański w Londynie: Brexit to wyzwanie, a nie szansa

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
12 May 2017
Gazeta Prawna
Wiceminister spraw zagranicznych ds. europejskich Konrad Szymański przekonywał w czwartek wieczorem w prestiżowym Królewskim Instytucie Spraw Międzynarodowych Chatham House w Londynie, że "Brexit to nie szansa, ale wyzwanie". Chodzi o to, by ograniczyć szkody. Szymański przedstawił swe stanowisko podczas debaty o przyszłej roli Grupy Wyszehradzkiej w Unii Europejskiej, występując obok swoich odpowiedników z Czech, Słowacji i Węgier. Debata była moderowana przez Agatę Gostyńską-Jakubowską z londyńskiego ośrodka analitycznego Centre for European Reform.

Macron's mission to revitalize French economy won't be easy

11 May 2017
The Daily Mail
Macron offers France a "real opportunity for reform" that will "both pep up France's economy and strengthen his position in Europe," says Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform.

Judy Asks: Is France Europe's redeemer?

Sophia Besch
10 May 2017
Carnegie Europe
Europe the sinner, at last redeemed by the grace of French President-elect Emmanuel Macron, set to the music of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - Europhiles may be forgiven for enjoying this fantasy on the evening of 7 May.

What would a large Conservative majority mean for Brexit?

10 May 2017
Financial Times
John Springford of the Centre for European Reform also strikes a note of caution in his latest analysis. It cannot be excluded, he says, that Mrs May will “walk away from the negotiating table, and hope to manage the economic fallout by wrapping herself in the flag, accusing the 27 of ‘ganging up’ on Britain, and deeply wounding the UK’s important alliances with France, Germany and the rest of Europe in the process”.
CER podcast: What does Macron's victory mean for France, the UK, the EU and the world?

CER podcast: What does Macron's victory mean for France, the UK, the EU and the world?

Sophia Besch, Ian Bond
08 May 2017
Ian Bond talks to Sophia Besch about the next steps for the newly elected French president.

Co oznacza dla Polski prezydent Macron? Sankcje, marginalizacja i mniej pieniędzy?

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
08 May 2017
Wiadomosci
Trudno sobie wyobrazić, by w ciągu trzech miesięcy nie tylko uruchomiono Artykuł 7, ale zapada też decyzja o ograniczeniu Polski w prawach członka. Ta procedura jest zbyt skomplikowana, a państwa członkowskie nie mają ochoty podejmować tak drastycznych decyzji - podsumowuje Agata Gosytńska-Jakubowska, analityk Centre for European Reform w Londynie.

Volcanic Macron forces Germany to come clean on its real EU agenda

08 May 2017
The Telegraph
Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform says Mr Macron’s strategic gamble is to restore French credibility, and then to lever this to extract a “new concordat on the euro” from Germany.