Research
'Conjoined twins': How Brexit's Irish backstop conundrum could be solved
25 July 2018
The Telegraph
Sam Lowe, the trade and Brexit specialist at the Centre for European Reform is among the experts who have also lent credence to the idea. “You would create a Northern Ireland-specific backstop written into the Withdrawal Agreement which is unconditional,” he suggests, “and then combine it with an agreement for a potential all-UK Customs Union that supplements the Irish backstop, but remains conditional on a future agreement.”
Euronews: Does Trump want to strike trade deal with EU's Juncker?
24 July 2018
"I think Trump isn't looking to make a deal," Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, told Euronews (from 0:20 mins).
What is at stake ahead of Juncker-Trump trade talks
24 July 2018
Financial Times
“The EU and US tried to bunch together all the trade disputes they had been having for decades [in the TTIP negotiations], but the differences in regulatory culture, different levels of precaution and desire for protection in different sectors proved too high a hurdle,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
What is at stake as Trump meets Juncker in US/EU trade war talks
24 July 2018
The Irish Times
“The EU and US tried to bunch together all the trade disputes they had been having for decades [in the TTIP negotiations], but the differences in regulatory culture, different levels of precaution and desire for protection in different sectors proved too high a hurdle,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
Brussels sprouts: Sophia Besch talks German politics, defence, and US-German relations
23 July 2018
Sophia Besch of the Centre for European Reform joins Jim Townsend to discuss the shifting internal dynamics in Germany and what they mean for US-German relations, defence spending, and how President Trump is changing things.
EU warns Brexit talks CANNOT be extended unless there is ANOTHER referendum
23 July 2018
The Express
Speaking to The Guardian, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Charles Grant, said: “If there is a very good reason for it, then fine. “But if it is just because a deal hasn’t been agreed, then that’s not going to be fine. “The Commission and the French government say they are relaxed about a no deal, although I am not sure they are.”
Merkel and Salvini's migration crisis: Much ado about nothing?
23 July 2018
E!Sharp
The number of people arriving in Europe is much lower in 2018 than in previous years. Yet, at the European Council on June 28th-29th, EU leaders had to grapple with Germany and Italy’s twin political crises over migration and asylum policy.
Article 50 extension would need major shift in UK politics, say EU officials
22 July 2018
The Guardian
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said that following his discussions with French government officials and the commission it was clear that a high bar would be set for an extension. “If there is a very good reason for it, then fine,” he said. “But if it is just because a deal hasn’t been agreed, then that’s not going to be fine. The commission and the French government say they are relaxed about a no deal, although I am not sure they are.”
With Brexit deadlocked, Britain stares over a cliff
21 July 2018
The New York Times
“Basically nobody has the faintest idea what will happen,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute. “The risk is real of political deadlock in Britain with Britain drifting toward the cliff edge.”
ABC Radio: Does Donald Trump's step towards Putin seal a new world order?
20 July 2018
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform spoke to ABC about how for many in the global community, the Helsinki summit signals the manifestation of a new world order, coming just days after Donald Trump waged rhetorical war against US allies in Europe, criticising Germany's Angela Merkel, Britain's Theresa May and NATO.
'Dead on arrival!' Brexit White Paper is 'stalking horse' for a customs union – think-tank
20 July 2018
The Express
BREXIT proposals set out in the Government's White Paper have zero chance of being accepted by the European Union in their current form, an economist with the Centre for European Reform think tank has warned. And senior research fellow Sam Lowe has suggested that the facilitated customs partnership idea set out in the document amounts to a "stalking horse" for the UK being part of a straightforward customs union.
Monocle podcast: The Globalist - Polish judicial system reform
19 July 2018
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska a senior research felow at the Centre for European Reform spoke to the Monocle about how Poland wants to reform its judicial system (from 13:40 mins).
Spain becomes top EU migrant destination; Italy blamed for deaths at sea
19 July 2018
Voice of America
The fall in migrant numbers in Italy has given the League party a political boost at home, says analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform. "The figures had already dropped very much under the previous government, due to a set of deals Italy had struck with Libya. Indeed, the arrivals had dropped very sharply. Now, of course, the policy of preventing NGO boats from docking has led to an even further decrease. But more than that, it's led to a very strong political win for the League, especially because other European countries have now been forced to take in some of the migrants arriving in Italy," Scazzieri told VOA.
EU rejects protectionism in huge trade deal with Japan
18 July 2018
The Times
John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said the EU-Japan deal was a “rebuff to the US attempts to move away from the multilateral order to an order based on the principle of might being right”.
May's Brexit model is alive and kicking
18 July 2018
Financial Times
Above all, there is a decision to be made between the current free movement of goods across Britain’s European borders (thus protecting both the peace settlement in Northern Ireland as well as manufacturing supply chains) or taking a maximalist view of “taking back control”. This choice is one that May has taken — in favour of the former. The white paper may not state this clearly — many political fig leaves remain in place — but as Sam Lowe rightly puts it, she is “inching our way towards Jersey”. That refers to the “Jersey model” of free movement of goods, with the UK being a full rule-taker as far as the production and trading of goods is concerned, which both Lowe and I have outlined.
A second Brexit referendum is back in play
18 July 2018
The Economist
It would almost certainly be necessary for Britain to ask the EU for more time. It would probably agree, believes Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, though it would hope to resolve matters before elections to the European Parliament at the end of May.
The Tory civil war over Brexit
17 July 2018
Financial Times
Today at Westminster, there is much debate over how much technical damage the Rees-Mogg amendments really did to Chequers. Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform is among a number of analysts who believe it was actually less harmful than Brexiters believe.
CER wins the 2018 Prospect Award for 'Think Tank of the Year'
17 July 2018
Prospect
Ian Bond and Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska represented the Centre for European Reform at the Prospect think tank awards, and were delighted to accept the award for Think Tank of the year.
How Theresa May could stumble off the Brexit cliff
17 July 2018
Politico
One commits the UK to leaving the EU’s VAT area after Brexit. Some experts say this all but guarantees a hard border in Ireland, undermining the whole purpose of May’s compromise Chequers plan. Charles Grant, the director of the Center for European Reform, said: “Unless we stay in EU’s VAT area, we cannot avoid a hard border.”
What it was like to attend that Trump-Putin press conference
17 July 2018
The Atlantic
The bizarre dynamic, experts warn, is likely to leave Putin emboldened after the meeting in Helsinki. “What generates stability is that your adversary knows that doing anything stupid will be met with a costly response,” Ian Bond, a former British diplomat in Moscow, told me. “So to the extent that they’re given a pass, you’re encouraging them to do it again and that is increasing instability.”