Press

“I actually see this as a red line being enforced,” argued Luigi Scazzieri, European foreign and security policy expert at the Centre for European Reform. “Russia’s under crippling sanctions and really didn’t expect that. Yes they could be a bit tougher but people are choosing to see the glass half empty rather than mostly full.”

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said French officials had told him that UK-France relations were very poor but that British participation in the Prague summit would change things. “Macron thinks this is really important for discussing strategic issues and he wants the British to take part,” said Grant. “The French say that the Brits can help to shape how the EPC emerges.”

Luigi Scazzieri at the Centre for European Reform points out that the League-Five Star government never vetoed EU sanctions against Russia. He does not think that will change under Italy’s likely next government: “In terms of sabotaging western unity … that’s not going to happen.Some EU supporters are less sanguine about a Meloni government.

Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said the decision poses significant questions for the wider tech sector as it does not only challenge a particular business practice, but potentially Google’s underlying business strategy of offering services, such as Android—which make no revenue—to drive consumers towards services which Google can monetise, like Google search.“Many other large tech firms like Amazon and Meta adopt similar practices, producing an ecosystem of services—only some of which are profit-making—but which mutually reinforce each other,” Meyers said, noting that although their situations are not directly comparable, these firms will be keeping a close eye on proceedings in order to not fall foul of the same accusations.

"I think COVID-19 is going to be regarded as one of the major success stories of the European Union over the years to come," Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels Office of the Centre for European Reform (CER), another think-tank, told Euronews. 

"Lo que se le achaca a España habitualmente es un perfil bastante bajo en la UE, una falta de ambición para marcar agenda. Pero con el tema de la energía se está poniendo las pilas y está ejerciendo un liderazgo bastante importante", explica a RTVE.es Camino Mortera, responsable de la oficina de Bruselas del think tank Centre for European Reform (CER).

Even if relations between the UK and the EU are in a pretty bad place, it is possible to find a way forward, provided both sides are prepared to move and then engage in hard, detailed negotiation, writes the Centre for European Reform in this policy brief.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, reported in June after a visit to Paris speaking to officials that "British-French relations are still dire"."All French fed up that Johnson, Truss and their briefers keep saying 'French soft on Ukraine' when in substance UK and France have [the] same position," he tweeted.

There’s an appreciation in Europe that the British have some good points on problems with the Protocol, notes Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. But there has to be a basis of trust on which to reach an agreement. “If Truss wants to surprise and make a trip to Dublin, a deal is doable,” Grant says. “But she has to focus on the practical problem of trade friction, not more ideological things.”