Press
Ask CER - Episode 9: Turkish elections, industrial policy and Ukraine joining NATO
24 May 2023
You asked, we answered: the ninth episode of our 'Ask CER' podcast series.
Electric cars could be crucial for the EU to meet its climate goals
22 May 2023
The Economist
Whether the EU will manage to meet its ambitious climate goals will now depend on member states’ willingness to deliver on the plans and to abstain from watering down any legislation that does not sit well with their voters, says Elisabetta Cornago of the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.
Has Brexit left Britain in a better state?
21 May 2023
The Sunday Times
Others, such as John Springford from the Centre for European Reform — who has analysed the performance of several “doppelganger” countries since the UK voted to leave — think the initial economic hit of leaving was as much as 5 per cent, thanks to more trade friction and less business investment.
As Greece votes, leader says blocking migrants built ‘good will’ with Europe
21 May 2023
The New York Times
Europe is “less on top of Greece for doing pushbacks and all the sort of things,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, who heads the Brussels office for the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.The latitude given Greece, she said, was in part recognition that the country had lived through a decade of brutal austerity.
Construction and aerospace join car industry in calls for better Brexit rules
20 May 2023
iNews
The Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) has has also led to a shortfall of 330,000 in the UK labour force, mostly in the low-skilled sector, according to the joint findings of the thinktanks Centre for European Reform (CER) and UK in a Changing Europe.
Record UK migration surge set to expose government divisions
20 May 2023
Bloomberg
“Immigration pretty much automatically adds to GDP because there are more people in the country working and consuming,” said John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “We have some good evidence that immigration actually helps to grease the wheels of the labor market a bit, and allows people to hand off lower-productivity tasks to other workers and concentrate on things which they were most productive at.”
Britain clashes with European judges over plan to send boat migrants to Rwanda
19 May 2023
Voice of America
But Europe is not in the mood to meet Britain's demands after its exit from the European Union, says Camino Mortera-Martinez, a Brussels-based analyst with the Center for European Reform."I'm not necessarily sure that they will go the extra mile to go and enter into reform of yet another European institution to please Mr. Sunak and his hardline government, when it comes to migration," she told VOA.
For Biden, crisis at home complicates diplomacy abroad
18 May 2023
The New York Times
“I don’t think many European governments are very concerned, presumably because these crises come round quite often but never end in disaster,” said Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform in London. “Cutting short the trip is a bad signal, but there is such good will to Biden in most capitals that they are prepared to cut him some slack.”
European Scrutiny Committee: PESCO and UK-EU defence co-operation
17 May 2023
Luigi Scazzieri gave evidence at the European Scrutiny Committee on the topic of UK-EU defence co-operation (from 14:43 mins).
Brexit: Suella Braverman speech confirms truths
17 May 2023
The Herald
Centre for European Reform deputy director John Springford’s latest report on the impact of leaving the EU on the UK economy, published in December, estimates that Brexit had, by the second quarter of 2022, reduced the country’s GDP by 5.5%.
Biden administration lacking a major foreign policy success
15 May 2023
Arab News
As Ian Bond, the director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, pointed out: “There had been serious transatlantic disagreements in the past — notably over Iraq in 2003 — but no previous president since World War II had challenged the very principle of the transatlantic alliance in the way that Trump did when he questioned whether the US should feel obliged to defend a NATO ally that was attacked.”
Could Turkey’s elections see the end of 20 years in power for president Erdoğan?
14 May 2023
The Scotsman
Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform, says there are “three fundamental reasons” why relations between the EU and Turkey have deteriorated.“The worsening state of democratic freedoms in Turkey; a plethora of bilateral disputes between Turkey and several member states, which further undermined Ankara’s EU accession process; and disagreements over foreign policy, with many member-states seeing Turkey’s positions as antagonistic,” he wrote in a briefing note published ahead of the elections.
The next day in EU-Turkey relations
13 May 2023
Ekathimerini
If Turkey's current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wins, the European Union will continue its policy of transactional cooperation with Turkey and crisis management when they break out.Erdogan's approach to the war being waged in Ukraine will be a key variable and potential source of tension, particularly if Turkey does not lift its veto on Sweden's NATO membership.
Elections en Turquie : ce que changerait une défaite d'Erdogan pour les Européens
11 May 2023
Les Echos
« Les résultats des élections influenceront la relation entre l'UE et la Turquie, qui s'est profondément détériorée au cours de la dernière décennie », écrit Luigi Scazzieri dans une note pour le Centre for European Reform.
Dette, déficit: pourquoi la France est plus mauvais élève que la Grèce et le Portugal
11 May 2023
Le Figaro
« La situation budgétaire de la France affaiblit sa position comme second pilier de stabilité dans la zone euro aux côtés de l'Allemagne, face aux grands enjeux comme la guerre en Ukraine, la défense ou le changement climatique. Il y a une vraie inquiétude », note Sander Tordoir, chercheur au Centre for European Reform, à Berlin.
CER podcast: What's at stake in Turkey's historic election?
10 May 2023
In this week's episode of the CER podcast Senem Aydin Düzgit and Luigi Scazzieri discuss the potential outcomes of Turkey's elections.
MEPs to vote on proposed ban on ‘Big Brother’ AI facial recognition on streets
10 May 2023
The Guardian
“Is it known as the Brussels effect. If the EU moves first and has sensible standards other countries will start with the EU rules when designing their own regulation,” said Zach Meyers, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.Meyers added: “Even if they don’t, companies may voluntarily adopt the EU rules globally because it makes the cost of doing business cheaper.”
So versuchen Paris und Berlin, sich einander wieder anzunähern
10 May 2023
Handelsblatt
„Man merkt, dass die Dinge schlecht sind, wenn Paris und Berlin die Symbolik betonen“, sagt Charles Grant, Direktor der Denkfabrik „Centre for European Reform“.
Erdoğan battles to retain power in Turkey
06 May 2023
Financial Times
It is difficult to imagine any circumstances in which Erdoğan’s re-election would result in political liberalisation at home. A tightening of the screws would add to the frictions between Turkey and its western allies that have steadily grown, the longer he has been in power.In this policy brief for the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Luigi Scazzieri outlines the possible consequences of an Erdoğan victory:
Telecoms stakeholders look to sector reset amid declining profits
05 May 2023
EurActiv
Two key factors have stood in the way of the development of a single market for telecoms, Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform told EURACTIV.“One of those things is the spectrum markets, which are still national, which means that it’s very difficult for companies to kind of coordinate a rollout of a mobile network across different countries at the same time”, he said, adding that “different land access regimes are also a real problem, but obviously politically extremely difficult to fix.”