Press
Brexit in numbers
20 January 2022
Financial Times
There are many factors driving inflation, but Brexit’s hidden hand — helping to tighten the labour market and raise import costs — makes the BoE’s decision-making harder, because the supply capacity of the economy will be smaller and less flexible, says John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform.
UCL European Institute: Exploring European policy careers with Charles Grant
20 January 2022
In a new video series, Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform reflects on his career trajectory to date and shares advice for students exploring careers in policy or a related field.
Voice assistants under fire in IoT competition report
20 January 2022
EurActiv
Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, told EURACTIV that the Commission was right to focus on data collection and interoperability and that the concerns raised in these areas were similar those driving the Digital Markets Act (DMA).However, the extent to which the DMA helps to solve these issues, Meyers said, will depend on its final shape once trialogue negotiations conclude, as well as how the Commission enforces it.
Don’t believe those who say a pan-European public sphere is impossible
16 January 2022
Financial Times
“There’s more and more of a trans-European debate,” observes Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London-headquartered think-tank with offshoots in Brussels and Berlin. “There are still national bubbles but a sense that we’re all in this debate together.”
Fear of Russia brings new purpose and unity to NATO, once again
14 January 2022
The New York Times
“NATO is its member states, and it’s what allies make of it,” said Sophia Besch, a defense analyst in Berlin for the Centre for European Reform. “It’s not out of business because we didn’t let it, and we’ve changed its raison d’être to what are the major strategic concerns of the day.”
European Union faces external and internal rifts
14 January 2022
The Wall Street Journal
“If Pécresse wins, the world goes on, like Scholz winning in Germany,” says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank. Center-left Mr. Scholz looks set to maintain many policies of center-right former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Post-Merkel Germany, while stable, will likely play a diminished role in Europe, Mr. Grant predicts. “The new government will take time to come together due to the difficulty of the three-party coalition,” he says.
A solution without a problem? The ‘digital pound’ may be dead in the water
14 January 2022
TechMonitor
CBDCs are seen as a way to bolster financial inclusion in countries with large unbanked populations. But for developed economies like the UK, the benefits are more limited, argues Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank."A lot of debate focuses on the potential harm digital currencies could do to macroeconomic stability, but an alarmingly small amount of time has been spent considering why we're actually doing this," he says.
Commerci, Borsa, Irlanda del Nord: tutti i nodi dopo un anno di Brexit
10 January 2022
La Repubblica
Secondo il think-tank Centre for European Reform citato dall'Economist, l'import e l'export britannico si sono ristretti complessivamente dell'11-16% dall'inizio del 2021.
EU hopes to emerge stronger than ever after ‘undesirable’ Brexit as it battles Russia, Covid and the far-right
09 January 2022
iNews
“If Le Pen or – God help us, Zemmour – wins, then the EU is plunged into crisis. That is the nightmare scenario,” says John Springford, the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER) in London.
...“If Orbán wins again, then he will be emboldened to continuing suppressing dissent,” Mr Springford says. “If he loses, champagne corks will pop in Brussels, as it shows pro-European forces can win – although it will not mean that populism is gone.”
...“If Orbán wins again, then he will be emboldened to continuing suppressing dissent,” Mr Springford says. “If he loses, champagne corks will pop in Brussels, as it shows pro-European forces can win – although it will not mean that populism is gone.”
UK tipped to rejoin EU project as Truss 'softens' Frost's tough Brexit stance
07 January 2022
Express
If Ms Truss is able to strike a deal, this would finally put an end to the delay in Britain’s involvement in the project. It might now be more likely than when Lord Frost was in charge, according to Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. He said: “With David Frost’s departure, there’s at least a chance of a bit of a reset in the EU-UK relationship because people in Brussels reckoned so long as he was there they couldn’t have a much better relationship.”
Brexit hysteria grips Germany as newspaper gloats 'English Channel is wider and UK poorer'
05 January 2022
Express
The Centre for European Reform deputy director John Springford has compared the British economy with a fictional doppelganger in which the UK voted against Brexit in 2016. In the years between the referendum and the exit from the European Union, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the real country was three percent lower than that of the doppelganger.
Frost’s departure offers hope of thaw in Horizon Europe impasse
03 January 2022
Times Higher Education
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said the recent resignation of Lord Frost as the Cabinet minister responsible for negotiating with Brussels could help mend relations.“With David Frost’s departure, there’s at least a chance of a bit of a reset in the EU-UK relationship, because people in Brussels reckoned so long as he was there they couldn’t have a much better relationship,” Mr Grant said.
La UE se blinda ante crisis migratorias orquestadas por terceros países
03 January 2022
El Pais
La estratagema del régimen de Lukashenko, en opinión de Camino Mortera-Martínez, analista del Centro para la Reforma Europea, “ha fracasado principalmente por la falta de apoyo de Rusia, pero si lo que se quiere en Europa son estas medidas de la Comisión y también las excepciones a las reglas de inmigración y asilo, se puede decir que ha tenido un cierto resultado”.
How a year outside the EU’s legal and trading arrangements has changed Britain
01 January 2022
The Economist
According to John Springford of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, Britain’s total combined imports and exports have been depressed by 11-16% relative to its peers since the beginning of 2021. Imports have been hit hardest—surprisingly, because Britain postponed customs checks until January 2022, whereas the EU did not.
Brexit : un an après, le lent effritement de l’économie britannique
31 December 2021
Le Monde
Pour contourner la difficulté, John Springford, du groupe de réflexion Centre for European Reform, a comparé l’évolution du commerce d’un groupe de 22 pays avec celle du Royaume-Uni. Jusqu’à fin 2020, elles étaient corrélées. Mais depuis le 1er janvier 2021, l’écart se creuse : le commerce britannique a perdu entre 11 % et 16 % par rapport à l’échantillon comparatif.
The never-ending Brexit the true and mounting costs of leaving the EU
30 December 2021
Foreign Affairs
According to a study conducted by John Springford, an economics researcher at the Centre for European Reform, British goods trade in September 2021 was 11.2 percent, or 8.5 billion pounds, lower than it would have been had the United Kingdom stayed in the EU’s single market and customs union.
What a year of Brexit brought UK companies: Higher costs and endless forms
29 December 2021
The New York Times
Goods trade with Europe was nearly 16 percent below what it would have been in a world without Brexit, according to the latest report by the Centre for European Reform.
Die nicht endenden Brexit-Probleme der Briten
28 December 2021
Der Tagesspiegel
Die Denkfabrik Centre for European Reform hat errechnet, dass der britische Warenhandel im Oktober 2021 um 15,7 Prozent oder 12,6 Milliarden Pfund (knapp 15 Mrd Euro) niedriger war als er im Falle eines britischen Verbleibs im EU-Binnenmarkt und in der Zollunion gewesen wäre.
Johnson’s pig-headed reign approaches its tragicomic climax
26 December 2021
The Guardian
We owe it to that great student of all things European, my old friend Charles Grant, to discover that all is not what it seems with the Rt Hon Truss. Grant has known her a long time. In an article for the Centre for European Reform think-tank, of which he is director, he reveals that, before converting to the Remain cause for Cameron’s referendum, Truss was a Eurosceptic.
Why no one should underestimate Liz Truss
26 December 2021
The Evening Standard
“As someone who doesn’t hide her ambition to be the next Conservative leader, she will want to appear tough in dealing with the EU, in order to secure the support of the party’s right,” wrote Charles Grant, Director at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.