Press
Trump has blown up the world order - and left Europe's leaders scrabbling
26 March 2025
BBC News
"Where we are at the moment is that the East Europeans by and large, don't need to get the memo," says Ian Bond, deputy director, Centre for European Reform. "The further west you go, the more problematic it becomes until you get to Spain and Italy."
EU trade chief travels to US, China in last-ditch effort to avert trade war
25 March 2025
EurActiv
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, said Europe's stated concerns about the impact of China's export-led industrial model were almost certainly genuine.“[We] share some of the US’s legitimate concerns about Chinese overcapacities,” he said. “Neither Mexico nor Canada run export-driven growth models that undercut European manufacturing.”
Rachel Reeves is all about growth. So why won’t she admit that Brexit is its worst enemy?
25 March 2025
The Guardian
“Things are moving in the right direction,” says Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform (CER).Nonetheless, Labour is so paralysed by Brexit that despite its hunt for growth, it has said nothing about the monumental sums that leaving the EU have cost the economy. Estimates vary, but the CER sets our losses at 5% of GDP.
Could Germany’s fiscal reform change the Eurozone neutral rate?
24 March 2025
Financial Times
The near-term implications of higher German fiscal spending could even be dovish at the margin, according to Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.“The upward shift in Bund yields since the announcement may not have prompted spreads to widen, but it does raise borrowing costs for fiscally constrained member-states,” he says.
‘I’m Proud’: Liz Cheney reacts to Elon Musk's criticism
23 March 2025
Newsbreak
Centre for European Reform research fellow Zselyke Csaky said, “This is happening right now, and I know many organizations that will need to shut down,” adding, “By the time European countries respond, there may not be much of the ecosystem to save.”
Macron shouldn’t look Starmer’s gift horse in the mouth
22 March 2025
Bloomberg
Julian King, the EU commissioner for security from 2016-2019, argues in a paper for the Centre for European Reform that “there is a long tradition in the EU of pursuing package agreements, and saying ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.’ This can speed up progress; more often it slows everything down to the pace of the most difficult issue.”
Europe is gripped by a defence crisis. And Brussels wants to talk about fish
21 March 2025
The Telegraph
Even in the short term, exclusion from the funds is not necessarily a calamity for Britain either, argues Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform (CER).“The €150bn fund is not a big deal,” he says. “It’s merely back-to-back loans where the commission passes slightly lower borrowing rates on to member-states.
How should Britain step up to enhance European security?
21 March 2025
Britain's World
Seen from Rome, the UK is an essential partner and pillar of European security. The UK’s contribution to a stronger European security posture can be both political and practical.
Réarmement : vers un grand emprunt commun des Vingt-Sept pour financer la défense européenne ?
20 March 2025
Le Parisien
« Je ne suis pas si convaincu : il a déjà été difficile pour les chrétiens-démocrates allemands d’accepter que l’Allemagne effectue une augmentation des dépenses si massives ; ajouter un emprunt européen à cela me semble politiquement délicat. Je pense que cela pourrait advenir si la situation sécuritaire de l’Europe se détériorait encore plus dramatiquement : par exemple, si les États-Unis retiraient leurs troupes d’Europe ou si le front ukrainien s’effondrait, analyse Sander Tordoir du groupe de réflexion Centre for European Reform.
Russia's next move? The countries trying to Putin-proof themselves
20 March 2025
BBC News
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, thinks that if a long-term ceasefire is eventually agreed in Ukraine, Putin would be unlikely to stop there."Nobody in their right mind wants to think that a European war is around the corner again. But the reality is an increasing number of European intelligence officials have been telling us that…
Future is Blue podcast: Rearmament push: Leveraging Europe’s often-ignored industrial strength
19 March 2025
In this Future is Blue episode, Sander Tordoir from the Centre for European Reform discusses his article Heavy Industry is Europe’s Trump Card.
EU struggles to bring Trump to the table on tariffs
19 March 2025
Reuters
"It is clear that the Trump administration would rather not engage with the EU at all," said Aslak Berg, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. ..."The stated demands are far-reaching and obviously unrealistic as they touch at the heart of European sovereignty and regulatory autonomy," said Berg. "The chances of any successful negotiation at this point are very slim."
RTL: Duits parlement stemt voor investeringen
18 March 2025
Sander Tordoir of the CER, spoke to RTL to discuss debt brake reform and the outlook for Germanys fiscal policy and economy.
Starmer wants Britain treated like EU member in €800bn defence plan
18 March 2025
The Telegraph
Dr Luigi Scazzieri, of the Centre for European Reform think tank, said it would not be easy for the UK to “plug in” to EU joint procurement schemes and plans to boost production.He said ideas being discussed included the EU changing its rules to make it easier for British firms to participate, a “pay to play” model with the UK participating in individual projects, or the UK becoming formally associated with EU defence instruments.
NPO Radio 1: "Historische" dag voor Duitsland: schuldenrem wordt losgelaten
18 March 2025
Jarenlang was Duitsland onze zuinige buurman. Maar... dat gaat veranderen. Vandaag stemde de Duitse Bondsdag namelijk voor het loslaten van de "Schuldenbremse" - de schuldenrem die strenge begrotingsregels oplegde aan de Duitse regering - en voor een investeringspakket van honderden miljarden euro's.Waarom doet Duitsland dit, wat gaat er veranderen en, ook niet onbelangrijk, wat betekent dat voor ons? Dat bespreken we in deze uitzending met Bert Colijn, econoom bij ING Research, en Sander Tordoir, hoofdeconoom van de Europese denktank CER.
China's growing grip on more than Germany's car industry
18 March 2025
Deutsche Welle
Germany’s industrial backbone is facing an unprecedented challenge. Once the leader in high-end manufacturing, the country has witnessed a five-year decline in industrial production, which threatens up to 5.5 million jobs and 20% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to a recent report by the London-based Centre for European Reform (CER)
ITIF: The Trade War podcast - Trading blows: Is Europe prepared?
17 March 2025
In this episode of the Trade War Podcast by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, host Stan McCoy delves into the current state of US-EU trade tensions with esteemed European trade experts Ignacio Garcia Becerro and Aslak Berg of the CER.
Trump’s tech bros pose ‘existential threat’ to EU, says Brussels
15 March 2025
The Telegraph
The Brussels effect works because of the size of the EU market and the technical quality of the regulations themselves, said Aslak Berg, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.But it works best as a soft power, he added, which is different to the US approach of issuing “a very serious threat”.
Should Europe draw closer to China?
15 March 2025
Financial Times
In this deeply researched analysis for the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Anton Spisak contends that the benefits of the tariffs may not amount to much: "European carmakers face structural pressures that go far beyond subsidised foreign imports."
Newstalk podcast: Latest on the proposed US-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine
14 March 2025
Vladimir Putin has said he has many questions about the proposed US-brokered ceasefire with Ukraine and appeared to set out a series of sweeping conditions that would need to be met before Russia would agree to such a truce.
We heard from Ian Bond, former British Diplomat in Moscow, and...
We heard from Ian Bond, former British Diplomat in Moscow, and...