Press
Amid tight Brexit polls, Netherlands' trade and investment leaders wary of referendum
24 May 2016
International Business Times
The Dutch, could negotiate for more-open trade terms to minimize any economic fallout, according to Rem Korteweg, a Dutch expert in the geopolitics of trade at the Centre for European Reform. "There will be generally a willingness to give the UK good terms, just based on economic arguments," Korteweg said. "But [the Netherlands] won't want to give access to the single market without any strings attached.
Europe 2.0? The EU after the British referendum
24 May 2016
Policy Network
As Sophia Besch and her colleagues at CER have made clear, Brexit will lay bare Franco-German divisions in areas in which the UK provided a useful third party. Paris and Berlin will need to engage directly with each other in order to make strategic decisions on the future of the single market, the EU budget and EU defence.
Sky News with Kay Burley: The Austrian elections
23 May 2016
Sky News
Appearing on Sky News to comment on the results of the Austrian elections director of foreign policy Ian Bond argued that "this confirms what we already knew - that it is very easy to play on fears of migration to gain support for right wing populist parties".
TTIP is no reason to leave the EU
23 May 2016
EurActiv
Opposition to TTIP has become a rallying cry for supporters of Brexit. Its critics are relying on myths about trade agreements in general, and about TTIP and the NHS in particular, writes Rem Korteweg.
Sky News: UK referendum debate
22 May 2016
Sky News
Appearing on Sky's Murnahan Show to comment on the referendum campaign the CER's director Charles Grant, argued that Remain have a much harder argument to make than the Leave side, he said "the international outlook also doesn't help".
Grant also warned that "project fear and the economic arguments are getting to some people but not the young, and if they don't turn out to vote Leave will win."
Grant went on to add: "Remain has to get a lot better at rebutting myths like Turkey joining, quickly and effectively."
Grant also warned that "project fear and the economic arguments are getting to some people but not the young, and if they don't turn out to vote Leave will win."
Grant went on to add: "Remain has to get a lot better at rebutting myths like Turkey joining, quickly and effectively."
Austria holds its breath as exit polls show far-Right candidate Norbert Hofer leads by the narrowest of margins
21 May 2016
The Telegraph
“The Freedom Party has become the outlet for people who want to say ‘we’re fed up with this cosy consensus”, said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, a pro-EU think-tank.
Austria populists aim for breakthrough in presidency runoff
20 May 2016
Bloomberg
"The populists are able to tap into a sense of frustration in many voters that the kind of middle-class lives and middle-class jobs people used to have aren’t there anymore," said Ian Bond, a London-based director at the Centre for European Reform. "It's the sense that inequality is growing and that while the rich recovered, everybody else was left behind."
What would Brexit mean for Poland?
19 May 2016
Prospect
For the last nine years Polish and British experts, officials and politicians have met in Krakow annually to discuss their countries' visions for Europe.
What would Brexit mean for British trade?
19 May 2016
The Telegraph
John Springford, an economist with the Centre for European Reform, the total cost of those tariffs [on UK goods and it exported into the EU] would be large, ranging from a 2.2 per cent of GDP (£40 billion) to 9 per cent.
CER podcast: Five questions on the implications of a Brexit for EU Justice and Home Affairs policies
18 May 2016
In the third episode of a series of podcasts on the implications of a Brexit for the EU, Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez explains the consequences of a Brexit for EU JHA policies.
No, TTIP is not a good reason for Britain to leave the European Union
18 May 2016
The Telegraph
Britain’s Eurosceptics on the Left and Right have found common cause in objecting to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
EU Facts: What would leaving the EU mean for expats?
18 May 2016
The Telegraph
As an example, Spain could ask British retirees to pay for their own healthcare - according to the Centre for European Reform's John Springford - or move to curb access to healthcare services outright.
Brexeunt stage left: The Europeans hoping that Britain votes Brexit
18 May 2016
The Guardian
Other, smaller Dutch parties, including the Socialists and Voor Nederland, were prominent in the victorious no campaign in the Dutch referendum on Ukraine. They are likely to “make statements praising the benefits of Brexit for the Dutch debate”, says Rem Korteweg at the Centre for European Reform.
New German court challenge of ECB unlikely to succeed
17 May 2016
Reuters
"I don’t see any chance of this going anywhere," Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform said of latest legal challenge. "I think that the complaint against sovereign bond buying program had higher chances of success but didn’t succeed," Odendahl said. "The European Court of Justice argued that even this is inside the ECB’s mandate. So the purchase of private assets is clearly within the ECB’s mandate."
EU unlikely to offer Britain the ‘Swiss model’
16 May 2016
Financial Times
In considering the alternatives to EU membership available to Britain, Martin Wolf criticises the “Swiss model”. But he is not critical enough.
Brexit would be a challenge for Berlin
15 May 2016
Financial Times
For the first time in EU history, one country is the clear leader. But Germany’s authority faces many challenges - and the departure of the UK would make it even harder to manage this fissiparous club.
Liam Fox is wrong to suggest that the EU controls the Foreign Office
14 May 2016
The Spectator
Former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute last week that the Foreign Office had been reduced to “little more than the EU embassy in Whitehall”.
CER podcast: Five questions on the economic implications of a Brexit for the EU
13 May 2016
In the second episode of a series of podcasts on the implications of a Brexit for the EU, Simon Tilford explains the economic consequences for the EU.
France's government survives vote over labor reform
12 May 2016
The Daily Mail
France is trying to do the bare minimum," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. But "politically it seems almost impossible to do this without street protests." ..."They're incredibly conservative ...they don't understand the world has changed. If you want companies to hire, you need to make it easier to fire. That is a lesson that the Spanish and Italians learned, and the Germans learned," Grant said.
Brexit would leave Germany more powerful with less influence
12 May 2016
Voice of America
"The departure of the UK, a vital ally, would make it even harder to manage this fissiparous club," argues Charles Grant, director of the London-based pro-EU research organization, the Centre for European Reform. "Brexit would leave the EU a less congenial place for many Germans, while also heightening resentment of Berlin’s power elsewhere on the continent," he argued in an opinion article in Britain’s Financial Times.