Press

The EU says it must enlarge. But why did it stop in the first place?

05 October 2023
Euronews
Before the 2004 accessions, "everything seemed to be going in the direction of a more open global world. These countries were, most of them, transitioning from communism to democracy and the free market economy and so there was this great sense of hope and that we were returning these countries to Europe," Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, told Euronews.

As US support for Ukraine wobbles, EU takes up membership question

Camino Mortera-Martinez
05 October 2023
The Washington Post
“To me, it is not only a question of what to do about the people that want to come in,” said Camino Mortera Martinez, who leads the Brussels office of the Centre for European Reform. “It is also what to do about the people who are in and not necessarily complying with rules.”

The Conservative party's uneasy truce with Brussels

05 October 2023
Financial Times
That’s why longstanding Conservative Brexiter Andrea Leadsom and the EU ambassador to London Pedro Serrano were in surprising agreement at a Centre for European Reform fringe event this week when I shared a platform with them both. Serrano was only too happy to endorse Leadsom’s soothing line that the TCA was the “deepest trade deal the EU has ever done” — the same line, incidentally, that is used by Lord David Frost — while repeatedly reminding the audience there was no appetite to reopen it.

Keir Starmer’s trade trap

03 October 2023
The New European
As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform points out, this sort of thing is not going to undo much, if any, of the economic damage of the TCA. But I think it is obvious that the first step back to a better relationship with the EU is to be nice, ask politely and show willing.

Dette publique : sur la scène européenne, la France voit ressurgir ses vieux démons

03 October 2023
L'Agefi
«La remise à plus tard de toute réduction de la dette, même modérée, est devenue une caractéristique permanente de la politique française : le déficit semble, en quelque sorte, être devenu le seul exutoire de la pression politique en France», juge pour sa part Sander Tordoir, économiste néerlandais du Centre for European Reform.
Sander Tordoir

BNR Radio: Nederland heeft geen last van 'zieke' Duitse economie

03 October 2023
Nederland hoeft zich geen zorgen te maken dat de slechte staat van de Duitse economie invloed gaat hebben op de Nederlandse economie. Dat zegt Sander Tordoir senior econoom van denktank Centre for European Reform in het economenvakblad ESB. 'Er zijn structureel diepere problemen in de Duitse economie die zich nu wreken.'
De Nederlandse economie moet zich verder van de Duitse afwenden

De Nederlandse economie moet zich verder van de Duitse afwenden

02 October 2023
Economisch-Statistische Berichten
De Duitse economie stagneert en zal daar de komende jaren niet bovenop komen. Wat betekent dit voor het Nederlandse buitenlandse economische beleid?

Brexit: Ian McConnell: Insolvencies show truth of folly

01 October 2023
The Herald Scotland
Centre for European Reform deputy director John Springford’s latest report on the cost of leaving the European Union to the UK economy, published last December, estimates that Brexit had, by the second quarter of 2022, reduced the country’s gross domestic product by 5.5%.
CER Podcast: A European strategy for Labour

CER Podcast: A European strategy for Labour

Charles Grant, Neil Kinnock
27 September 2023
Charles Grant and Neil Kinnock discuss a European strategy for Labour.

Booking.com shows the true scope of the EU’s big tech crackdown

25 September 2023
Wired
Every jurisdiction is getting tougher on tech mergers,” says Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow at the Center of European Reform, a think tank, adding that regulators are all trying to respond to the concentration of market power in the hands of a few players in the tech industry. Across the EU, UK, and US, regulators are trying to respond to the same problem but in slightly different ways, he says. “So you are going to see, in this period, greater divergence.”

El model econòmic d’Alemanya flaqueja

24 September 2023
La Vanguardia
“En l’espai de tres anys una tempesta perfecta creada per una pandèmia mundial, la guerra de Rússia contra Ucraïna amb la consegüent crisi energètica i les tensions creixents entre la Xina i els Estats Units ha deixat al descobert els riscos que aquest tipus de dependència es converteixi en una arma”, diagnostiquen els economistes Sander Tordoir i Xahin Vallée, analistes del laboratori d’idees Centre for European Reform (CER), amb seus a Berlín, Brussel·les i Londres.

CMA loses credibility as it surrenders to US behemoth

23 September 2023
The Times
Zach Meyers, from the Centre for European Reform, said the CMA had “made a lot of mistakes and seemed to be fumbling their way through” the case. However, he said the concession extracted by the CMA has helped “send a message” to the tech sector.

El Brexit sin fin: ¿Reino Unido, 'miembro asociado' de una UE ampliada para 2030?

23 September 2023
EL Confidencial
Por su parte, en Londres, Charles Grant, director del respetado think tank 'Centro para la Reforma Europea', recalcó que el discurso fue "más allá" del tono cauteloso que había mostrado hasta la fecha.

Wie es um die britische Wirtschaft steht

23 September 2023
Tagesschau
Dabei belasten die Auswirkungen des Brexit das Land noch: Der Think Tank Center for European Reform schätzt, dass das Vereinigte Königreich fünf Prozent Wachstum verloren hat seit dem Austritt aus der Europäischen Union.

We won’t undo Brexit, Labour insists after Starmer remarks

22 September 2023
The Times
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, told Sky News that the comments went further than what Starmer had said previously, and that Brexiteers might question the point of leaving the EU if the UK does not significantly deregulate.“He’s trying to soften up the other world leaders, so they know what to expect when he becomes prime minister, if he does,” he said.

Why the EU will not remain the world’s digital über-regulator

21 September 2023
The Economist
Since Europe is unlikely to become an ai superpower soon, the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, argued in a recent report, it should also focus on getting businesses to adopt the technology.
Charles Grant

Sky News: What's the significance of Starmer's EU comments?

21 September 2023
"One of the benefits of Brexit is supposed to be that the British are free to set their own rules."

Britain's pitch to investors: We're boring now—and that's good

20 September 2023
The Wall Street Journal
“The UK had a bit of bad luck after Brexit in a series of crises,” said John Springford, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. The country’s economy has suffered permanent damage from Brexit, which increased trade friction with the nation’s biggest trade partner, and the ensuing turmoil, but renewed business investment in recent quarters also shows the UK is often underestimated, he said. 
Sander Tordoir

European Parliament: Public hearing on the new economic governance rules fit for the future

20 September 2023
At the European Parliament’s hearing on the reform of Europe’s fiscal framework, Sander Tordoir argued

Building his profile on global stage, UK opposition leader meets Macron

19 September 2023
The New York Times
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute, said Mr Starmer knew that after years of tension over Brexit, an incoming Labour government’s credibility with the European Union could be quite low.