Press
Labour thinks Boris Johnson might trigger article 16 to distract from fuel and food shortages
28 September 2021
Politics Home
Baroness Jenny Chapman, who leads on Brexit for Labour in the House of Lords, said she worried the government will be tempted to suspend parts of the protocol, triggering a new diplomatic row with Brussels and plunging Northern Ireland into greater uncertainty, to divert attention from ongoing reports of labour shortages and everyday items like food and petrol running out. "The government is in a really sticky situation at the moment and it’s not enjoying the headlines about people queueing at petrol stations," she told a fringe event hosted by the Centre for European Reform at Labour's conference in Brighton.
After Merkel, the CDU surveys the wreckage
27 September 2021
Financial Times
“It is smart and it shows the seriousness of those parties after the experience of 2017 when talks between the Greens and Free Democrats collapsed,” says Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform in Berlin.
Europe sees fuel crisis as result of Brexit and has no plans to ‘help the UK out of the s**t they created’
27 September 2021
iNews
“Things happen for many reasons, often at the same time,” says Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow of the Centre for European Reform think tank in London. “But it would be weird if the UK putting up significant barriers to trade with its most important trading partner had no impact whatsoever. I mean, we’d have to rethink every single thing we think we know about the benefits of free trade.”
El adiós de Merkel deja a Alemania y a la UE ante un desafío inédito
26 September 2021
El Pais
A la hora de evaluar el legado merkeliano, Christian Odendahl, economista jefe del Centre for European Reform, se detiene en la crisis del euro, con la que Alemania abrió profundas fisuras en la Unión enarbolando la bandera de una austeridad que regó de cadáveres laborales y sociales el continente y lastró a economías del sur como la española.
RTE: Merkel's tenure
25 September 2021
Christian Odendahl spoke to RTE about how much of Angela Merkel's tenure has been characterised by crisis management, leaving little room at times to address other issues.
Post-Brexit roaming
24 September 2021
Financial Times
With the end of free roaming charges after Brexit, the cost of phone bills when travelling in Europe is only going to increase for UK consumers, writes the Centre for European Reform in this
The cause of our food and petrol shortages is Brexit – yet no one dares name it
24 September 2021
The Guardian
As Sam Lowe, trade sage at the Centre for European Reform, puts it drily: “We did make a big decision to differentiate ourselves from our neighbours.”
El miedo a perder a Merkel
24 September 2021
El Periodico
Ha sido la líder de Alemania durante unos años en los que los intereses de su país y los de la Unión Europea han sido prácticamente los mismos.
Bloomberg: CDU narrows gap ahead of election
24 September 2021
Christian Odendahl argues that German discussions on fiscal rules will influence the European debate, particularly in terms of climate. He says the current gas crisis illustrates how carbon pricing alone isn’t enough to fight climate change - you need higher investment.
‘Lots to offer’ Brexit Britain holds trump card over Germany in key leverage power play
23 September 2021
The Express
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think tank, said Britain can offer Germany security from neighbouring threats. He believes the increasing assertiveness of Russia, China and Turkey offers an opportunity for an improved relationship between Britain and Germany.
Boris Johnson cuts a colorful swath in US, but to what end?
23 September 2021
The New York Times
“Everything that makes a bilateral agreement difficult makes U.S.M.C.A. difficult,” said Sam Lowe, an expert on trade at the Centre for European Reform, a research institute in London. “We’d still be talking about chlorinated chicken,” he added, referring to disputes over access for chemically treated American food.
There’s one big problem for Britain-Germany relations … Northern Ireland
23 September 2021
Politico
“Every German chancellor of any coalition would say, ‘let’s fix this Brexit and trade issue and come to a stable and trustworthy relationship and then we can talk,’" said Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think tank. "So the best the UK can do to improve the relationship with Germany is to fix the conflict with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol.”“If anything, Brexit has reinforced the tendency of German parties to agree on the EU, because Britain’s exit has meant that Germany is even more in the position of compromise seeker,” he added.
UK pins hope on joining US, Mexico and Canada trade pact
22 September 2021
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said that it would be “quite an occasion” if Britain were to join USMCA, even though he was sceptical that it would happen. “You would have all the issues with a bilateral US relationship — they don’t go away,” he said. “But from an economic point of view a deal would not be negligible.”
What Germany’s election means for the country’s debt debate
21 September 2021
Financial Times
“The perception that public debt is an issue has changed quite a bit in the past five years,” said Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in Berlin. “The orthodox view of the eurozone debt crisis is shifting and now there is a more progressive approach to climate change.”
The Merkel era in charts: What changed in Germany?
20 September 2021
Financial Times
Germany’s second economic miracle happened “without Merkel’s government doing . . . anything”, added Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
EU partly to blame for UK’s hardline tactics, says former May aide
20 September 2021
The Guardian
Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said he was baffled as to why people in the government thought they were winning concessions through hardball tactics. “I find that a really fascinating argument because I know that trade and cooperation agreement quite well, and the UK did not get much of what it wanted at all,” he said
German dithering means it’ll be a long wait for Merkel’s heir
19 September 2021
The Sunday Times
“Nobody in Germany has been thinking about Britain or Brexit. It just hasn’t been a feature of the campaign. It isn’t anybody’s priority,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. Underpinning this is a dwindling of our economic ties with Germany: in 2016 the UK was Germany’s fifth-largest trade partner; this year it is set to slip to 11th, behind the Czech Republic.
Deutsche boss says sorry for report criticising German government
17 September 2021
The Telegraph
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said: "He’s [Scholz] easily the most experienced, sober and Merkel-like candidate."
UK pledges to restore pounds and ounces as Brexit benefit
16 September 2021
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, a trade specialist at the Centre for European Reform, said the list contained a mix of “things that don’t matter at all, things that might matter, and things that do matter”. But, he added, the test would be whether “divergence from EU rules delivers material economic benefits or just divergence for divergence’s sake”.
Judy Asks: Will the Afghanistan debacle change your country’s foreign and security policy?
16 September 2021
Carnegie Europe
The UK entered the war in Afghanistan confident that it knew how to defeat insurgencies. After more than four hundred and fifty British deaths, it has left, chastened and with less appetite for involvement in distant conflicts.