Press
UK freeports blow as exporters face tariffs to 23 countries
09 May 2021
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre For European Reform, said the clauses went against the political “narrative” that eight new freeports announced in the spring Budget would be economically transformative. “I’ve always thought they were largely pointless anyway,” he said. “It is absolutely the case that if you produce certain products in freeports you will not be able to take advantage of many of the free trade agreements.”
How the Digital Markets Act can tame big tech
06 May 2021
Encompass
The European Commission announced at the end of April that it believes Apple has breached competition laws. This was predictable.
The recovery is gaining strength, but Brexit is still inflicting damage
28 April 2021
The Times
The Centre for European Reform estimated this month in its “cost of Brexit” assessment that UK trade was taking an additional hit, on top of the 10 per cent reduction in UK exports relative to what they would have been since the 2016 referendum.
EU to finalise Brexit trade deal as Amsterdam emerges as top stock market
27 April 2021
Radio France International
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided he wanted "a run-of-the-mill free trade agreement", explains John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London. "Banks can blow up, so close trade relationships in financial services require common regulations, which Johnson didn't want," he said.
CER podcast: Russia and Ukraine: A worsening crisis?
23 April 2021
Charles Grant discussed the resurging conflict between Russia and Ukraine with Ian Bond and Orysia Lutsevych
BBC Radio 4: The Briefing Room - Could Germany Go Green?
22 April 2021
Sophia Besch, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform spoke to David Aaronovitch about what the Greens might change about German foreign policy (from 12.3 mins).
Persuading the world to back carbon border tax
22 April 2021
Financial Times
A solution to some of this comes to hand in the form of a paper by the Centre for European Reform’s Sam Lowe — “Big Sam” to give his official Trade Secrets title, though not that Big Sam. Lowe argues that the EU can adapt its current preference schemes for developing countries — Everything But Arms for the least-developed countries and the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) for middle-income countries — to exempt them from the carbon border measure.
Russia, Ukraine and the West: Déjà vu all over again
21 April 2021
Encompass
Whatever Russia’s President Vladimir Putin does, he seems to take the West by surprise, and by the time the EU and NATO have decided what to do, Putin has got away with it again.
The man who wants to replace Merkel and run Europe's biggest economy has one very big problem
21 April 2021
The Telegraph
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, says: “He's a middle of the road German conservative, but he does have corporatist instincts.” With Laschet the leader of the heavily industrial state of North Rhine-Westphalia, having “German business interests at heart” is his “instinct”, Odendahl says.
Czech Republic urges EU, NATO allies to retaliate against Russia over 2014 explosion
20 April 2021
Voice of America
"They seem to be extremely active in a number of parts of Europe, and of course apart from them, we have seen the assassination of the Chechen-Georgian exile (Zelimkhan) Khangoshvili in Berlin, for which a Russian is on trial in Germany, and we've still got the MH17 trial going ahead in The Hague, and we've had other Russian citizens assassinated elsewhere in the EU," Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform told VOA.
Substantial trade cracks with Europe remain in the post-Brexit world
19 April 2021
The Telegraph
Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre of European Reform, says businesses have found themselves caught between tough regulations and unmanageable costs. “Lots of these companies are still struggling because they can’t get advice. They can’t get customs agents to do it for them. They’re struggling to provide the necessary information, or they just can’t take on the additional cost when it comes to trading with Europe.”
Branding him a killer won’t bother Putin. He thinks Biden is bluffing
18 April 2021
The Sunday Times
Another British error was allowing “Londongrad” to be corrupted by its embrace of new wealth from Russia, heedless of the criminal and KGB forces behind it, according to Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform.“We have allowed a kleptocratic system to be run through our real estate, our overseas territories, it’s hugely damaging,” Bond said.
Post-Merkel Germany may be shaded green
17 April 2021
The New York Times
“They want a world without nuclear weapons, but acknowledge that it will take time to get there — they’ll first have to find other ways to reassure eastern and central European partners,” said Sophia Besch, an analyst with the Centre for European Reform in Berlin.
Annalena Baerbock: The woman who could become Germany’s first Green chancellor
16 April 2021
The New Statesman
Against a backdrop of pandemic, climate crisis and favourable shifts in the party-political landscape, the circumstances have never been as ripe for it: “This could be the chance for the Greens to take the chancellery,” asserts Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform.
Brexit has already cost £11.5billion in trade, Centre for European Reform think tank estimates
13 April 2021
Evening Standard
The Centre for European Reform estimated that quitting the single market and customs union at the end of December 2020 had cut trade in goods by £3.5 billion, or five per cent, by February.It stressed that this was on top of an £8 billion, or ten per cent, hit to trade between the June 2016 Brexit referendum and leaving the single market at the end of 2020, a period which saw a sharp fall in the value of the Pound.
US signals support for Ukraine and will add troops in Germany
13 April 2021
The New York Times
Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who is head of foreign policy for the Centre for European Reform, said that a war was unlikely now but could come this summer. He wrote in a briefing paper that Russian analysts were suggesting that the ground in eastern Ukraine would be too wet for armor for another month, and that the helicopters and aircraft needed for an airborne assault were still absent from Crimea — signs that no attack is imminent.
Bloomberg TV: Merkel's succession in disarray as party splits over nominee
13 April 2021
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at th CER talked to Bloomberg TV about the Merkel succession, and how German politics might change in the coming years.
Times Radio: Russian pressure in eastern Ukraine
13 April 2021
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform spoke with Carole Walker and outlined three possible motives behind the increased Russian pressure in eastern Ukraine (from 1:50).
El traspié en Ankara pone contra las cuerdas a Michel
11 April 2021
El Pais
Camino Mortera-Martínez, investigadora del Centre for European Reform, opina que el incidente es “el síntoma de una enfermedad más grave”, que es el “tipo de liderazgo que tenemos en la UE”. “Una presidencia será tan importante como la persona que esté al frente decida. Puede ser muy buena, irrelevante o mala”, sostiene la analista, que añade: “Dudo de que vaya a dimitir, pero también de que vayan a renovarlo el próximo año”.
CER podcast: Europe needs a new approach to the Sahel
09 April 2021
Ian Bond discussed the situation in the Sahel region of Africa with Abdoul Salam Bello and Katherine Pye.