Press
Britain will follow all EU food and farming regulations for nine months in a 'no deal' Brexit
01 March 2019
The Telegraph
“The imperative for UK food exports in the event of no deal is ensuring that they can still access their most important market, the EU,” said Sam Lowe, the trade policy expert at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.“While the temptation to fiddle with domestic regulations will certainly be there, dynamic alignment in the short to medium term is just common sense.”
Brexiteers’ bid for no-deal free trade is a unicorn that belongs on a red bus
28 February 2019
Evening Standard
Brexiteers have seized on this as the ultimate in cake-ism. Who needs a deal? We can trade with the EU tariff free for a decade! What’s not to like about that? Except it’s “complete nonsense”, according to trade expert Sam Lowe, of the Centre for European Reform. “It sounds tech-y and convincing and it’s being used by the Brexiteers to try to sanitise a no-deal,” he says.
CER podcast: Brexit and services
27 February 2019
Sophia Besch asks Sam Lowe how Brexit will affect trade in services between the UK and the EU, and why services have been sidelined in the debate.
All hands on deck
27 February 2019
Berlin Policy Journal
Concerns about fragmentation shape Berlin’s understanding of the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy. That carries risks, especially with Brexit approaching.
Polityka Insight: Ryzyka i Trendy: Czy można uratować umowę brexitową
20 February 2019
In today's Insight Polityka podcast, Marek Świerczyński talks to Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska from the Centre for European Reform think-tank. Gostyńska-Jakubowska wonders how to overcome the Brexit deadlock.
Politicians must stand up for the City of London after Brexit
20 February 2019
The Financial Times
For financial services, in which the UK has a large surplus, this is bleak, with the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, reckoning that a free trade agreement would shrink exports to the EU by almost 60 per cent.
Merkel turns SCREW: Germany vows to BLOCK extradition of nationals to UK post-Brexit
18 February 2019
The Express
Analyst at think-tank the Centre for European Reform Camino Montera-Martinez said: “Extraditing own nationals is a perk of the European Arrest Warrant, only open to EU members, and once Britain leaves the EU, it may cause serious legal and constitutional headaches in several capitals.“Whether there is a deal or not, EU countries are free to refuse to send their own nationals to Britain and I expect some will make us of that freedom.”
Poland and Israel try to improve ties, but history intrudes
17 February 2019
The New York Times
“On both sides there is some naked political opportunism at work,” said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform. “On Netanyahu’s side, the more he can find people fed up with the EU mainstream and get them tactically to back him, even if only to annoy other members of the Union, the better.”
Berlin warns it will stop extradition of Germans to UK after Brexit
17 February 2019
The Financial Times
“Extraditing own nationals is a perk of the European Arrest Warrant, only open to EU members, and once Britain leaves the EU, it may cause serious legal and constitutional headaches in several capitals,” said Camino Montera-Martinez, an analyst at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.“Whether there is a deal or not, EU countries are free to refuse to send their own nationals to Britain and I expect some will make us of that freedom.”
Politics is failing on Brexit but economics has been on the money
14 February 2019
Financial Times
The economy is now 1.5 per cent smaller than the Bank of England forecast in May 2016 while the world economy has been stronger than expected. Compared with similar advanced economies, studies estimate the UK Brexit hit to be 2.3 per cent.
British Prime Minister May suffers another loss in Parliament over Brexit
14 February 2019
The Washington Post
“There is a tradition in the E.U. of things being settled at the last minute,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. He noted that the Maastricht summit in 1991, for instance, came together at the last minute, and that the seven-year EU budget seems to be settled right before the deadline.
Beware the Brexit monster: Dutch businesses get a furry blue warning
14 February 2019
The New York Times
“In terms of the countries exposed to Brexit, the Netherlands is one of the biggest,” John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London, said on Thursday by phone.“No-deal Brexit would be the largest hit, but all of the different scenarios are going to entail some sort of economic cost,” he added.
Franco-Italian friction
13 February 2019
The Financial Times
Franco-Italian friction From migration to the euro, Luigi Scazzieri at the Centre for European Reform charts the deterioration in Franco-Italian relations in the last year and why Rome will ultimately be the big loser: “Less frequent dialogue means relations are already damaged: in 2018, Italy and France did not hold an annual bilateral summit, as they usually do. And a planned ‘Quirinale Treaty’, an Italian-French pact modelled on the Élysée Treaty and designed to provide bilateral relations with more structure, is now frozen.”
World security tensions take centre stage in Munich
12 February 2019
The Financial Times
“Donald Trump is less restrained in his foreign policy now than he was,” said Sophia Besch, a defence and security specialist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “The situation is particularly difficult for Germany. Berlin is Trump’s favourite target — but the mood between Paris and Berlin is also at a low point.”
EU expert reveals what Emmanuel Macron REALLY hopes to ACHIEVE with his EU ARMY
12 February 2019
The Express
European army expert and researcher for the Centre for European Reform Sophia Besch explained that French President Emmanuel Macron wishes to create a more unified Europe that does not rely so heavily on the US. During an interview with Express.co.uk, the researcher revealed Mr Macron wants Europe to be better prepared for European military threats and believes an EU army would allow him to achieve that. The EU army expert said: “I think for Emmanuel Macron the idea is meant to inspire, it is part of his pro-EU platform.
How the economic cost of Brexit is being hidden from Leave voters
12 February 2019
The New Statesman
That is the exercise that John Springford at the Centre for European Reform is regularly performing and he calculates that GDP was 2.3 per cent lower in September 2018 as a result of the Brexit vote. That roughly translates into the average household losing almost £2,000 worth of resources (mainly lower private consumption, but also lost public spending and investment). This number is broadly consistent with estimates the governor of the Bank of England gave in May, using a different method.
'Ostpolitik' breathes its last in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline controversy
12 February 2019
The Financial Times
As well as being trapped by the ghosts of Ostpolitik, Nord Stream 2 is also beset by another German character trait: reverence for the letter of the law (or treaty), reckons Sophia Besch of the Centre for European Reform.
Tok FM: Czy pozycja negocjacyjna Wielkiej Brytanii słabnie?
11 February 2019
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform commented on Theresa May’s attempt to reach out to Labour party in search for a compromise on Brexit.
Europe turns on spending taps as austerity comes to an end
09 February 2019
Financial Times
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, called for a comprehensive rewrite of the budgetary rules, which he argued amplified the booms and busts of the eurozone economy.“Europe’s fiscal rules do not allow enough stimulus in a recession, and allow too much spending during a boom,” he said. “An overhaul of the fiscal rules to protect investment spending and prescribe strongly counter-cyclical policies would help to counter the current slowdown.”