Press

The director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, Ian Bond, suggests that Europe's first order of business is not to overreact - but that it should initiate formal diplomatic contact to find out just what the new policy will mean as the practical effects sink in."It is not unreasonable for the US to want to protect itself," Bond said in an interview with DW, "There is a terrorist threat and some of the countries on this list of seven are pretty much ungoverned spaces" where it would be hard ensure that a government, if it exists, has vetted people before issuing passports.

 “De opgave voor de Britten is enorm”, zegt, Rem Korteweg, onderzoeker bij de Centre for European Reform. “Neem die sectordeals. Volgens de geldende regels van de Wereldhandelsorganisatie mag je alleen akkoorden sluiten die betrekking hebben op alle substantiële handel tussen de verdragspartijen. Het lijkt mij niet dat enkele sectoren genoeg zijn aan de eis te voldoen.”

"Juristisch wäre das Parlament nach der Entscheidung des Obersten Gerichts gar in der Lage, den Brexit zu stoppen", erklärt Sophia Besch vom Londoner Politikberatungsinstitut "Centre for European Reform". "Oder auch ganz stark Einfluss darauf zu nehmen, dass es nicht zu einem harten Brexit kommt, den Theresa May angekündigt hat. Also raus aus dem EU-Binnenmarkt, ohne Wenn und Aber, auch wenn es der Wirtschaft schaden dürfte. Dagegen anzugehen - diesen Mut haben viele Parlamentarier verloren. Weil die Bürger in ihren Wahlkreisen vielen Abgeordneten klar gemacht haben, dass sie den Brexit wollen. Aufhalten, verwässern, verzögern, all das wäre politischer Selbstmord."

The costs are disputed – and ultimately difficult to predict with absolute certainty – but economists like Simon Tilford at the Centre for European Reform believe they will be 'significant'.

“There’s a risk that if she goes too far down this route [of seeking trade deals] it just creates a toxic atmosphere,” said John Springford, director of research at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank that is pro-EU but advocates its reform.

“The people at the top of our system, whether they’re politicians or officials or journalists or think tankers like me, we’re all totally focused on Brexit,” said Charles Grant, who heads the London-based Centre for European Reform. “We haven’t thought about Trump as much as we should have.”

Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform has forecast that it could end up lasting between three and five years, and Whitehall officials admit it could take that long for all new customs procedures to be put in place.

« Le processus parlementaire forcera le gouvernement à donner plus d'éléments sur les conséquences du Brexit », prédit Agata Gostynska, du think tank proeuropéen Centre for European Reform.
 

Mr Schulz plans to focus on social justice and equality, according to Sophia Besch, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER). “He’s going to have to prove himself over the next couple of months. He is an unknown quantity in German domestic politics,” she said. Ms Besch said that Mr Schulz could revitalise the party because he is a “relatively new face” but he may have trouble appealing to its core supporters.