Research
Brexit financial services deal will be difficult
28 March 2018
EurActiv
The industry has accepted that so-called “passporting” rights will not be possible after Britain leaves the EU. The concept of “equivalence” has been mooted as a solution but even agreeing to that will be difficult.
Europäische Verteidigungspolitik: Jetzt geht’s um Resultate!
27 March 2018
Peace Lab
Ob die Gemeinsame Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik der EU wirklich vorankommt, hängt von der neuen Bundesregierung ab.
Brexit goes to space
26 March 2018
Financial Times
As Sophia Besch of the Centre for European Reform neatly explains, non-EU countries are, in principle, allowed to access the encrypted Galileo system. Norway and the US are in (protracted) talks to do so. Britain should have a decent chance after Brexit, having developed much of the Galileo encryption technology.
Made in Britain: What does it mean for trade after Brexit?
26 March 2018
BBC News
There are significant costs, administrative and legal, for businesses that have to prove the origin of goods. In some cases, that could even mean that it's cheaper just to pay a low tariff than to go through the bureaucracy involved in getting an exemption. "There are steps that can be taken to mitigate the costs," says Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform. "But outside the customs union you cannot eliminate those extra costs entirely."
A new Cold War with Russia? No, It's worse than that
26 March 2018
The New York Times
Ian Bond, a former British diplomat in Moscow who is now director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform in London, said Russia’s often implausible denials had made it “like the boy who cried wolf.” “If you keep putting forward crazy conspiracy theories, eventually people are going to ask whether what you are saying is just another crazy Russian denial,” he said.
Ukraine is no blueprint for Brexit success
23 March 2018
EurActiv
As European leaders gather once again in Brussels, the European Parliament has recommended the UK consider an association agreement with the EU after Brexit.
Theresa May shows why the EU matters
23 March 2018
Financial Times
“If Mrs May had not been at the table yesterday, she would have been relying entirely on the leaders of France, Germany and others to make her points [about the Skripal case] for her,” says Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.“That would have been a pretty tough thing to do. The French and Germans are obviously concerned about what the Russians are doing. But this isn’t their fight.”
Behind the scenes: Distrust of EU boils over in Italy's election
23 March 2018
The Japan News
“Economically and geographically, Italy is on the front line and it has been pounded,” said Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “There was a perception that the European Union couldn’t be relied on at that time, and that Italy had been abandoned. That sentiment came to the fore in this election.”
The EU is becoming more British
23 March 2018
Financial Times
Member-states are taking back control of the Brussels machinery from the European Commission, argues Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska at the Centre for European Reform: "The outcome of the leaders’ discussions chimes with the original British vision for the EU, whereby the member-states have a strong voice in EU decision-making, and keep the European Parliament and the Commission at arm’s length. But the irony of Brexit is that the EU is becoming more British just as the UK is leaving the EU."
Европа в поисках врага
22 March 2018
Izvestia
— Но события в Солсбери сделают сложные отношения хуже, — сказал «Известиям» директор по внешней политике базирующегося в Лондоне Центра европейской реформы Ян Бонд.
In Brexit give-and-take, Britain gives and the EU takes
21 March 2018
The New York Times
Though David Davis, Britain’s Brexit secretary, trumpeted on Monday the fact that Britain would be able to negotiate and sign non-European trade deals during the transition, if not to implement them, experts were unimpressed. Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute, describes that as a “token,” since prospects of such talks being completed during the transition period were remote. “I don’t think that’s a real concession,” he said.
Is the West too soft on Putin?
21 March 2018
Euronews
Russian presidential 'elections' lack any element of suspense.
This 'status quo' Brexit transition deal gives Theresa May some breathing space - but major collision over Ireland is imminent
20 March 2018
The Telegraph
As Sam Lowe at the Centre for European Reform puts it, since Mrs May is determined to leave the customs union and single market, businesses that deal with the EU are “far from sanguine”. Supply chains will still need to be reconfigured in short order; new business processes put in place and the inevitable coming frictions at the EU border will require adjustments. “While the cliff edge has been pushed back,” he says. “It is still very much on the horizon.”
Ireland's border is a problem it can't afford to leave unsolved
20 March 2018
The Guardian
The border issue could still wreck Brexit talks. But no-deal would damage Ireland almost as much as it would Britain.
Call for delayed Brexit day and longer transition splits MPs
18 March 2018
The Observer
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said it was likely the UK would get an accord on the terms of the transition at this week’s EU summit. “Only one thing could prevent a deal: if the British cannot convince Dublin they are making progress towards achieving a barrier-free Irish border, the Irish could veto a transition,” he said. “But that seems unlikely.”
Cracking the EU
16 March 2018
Financial Times
John Springford, Samuel Lowe and Beth Oppenheim at the Centre for European Reform write comprehensively on why the Brits will have a hard time cracking the EU-27 in Brexit trade talks. Jim Brunsden examines if May can solve her customs conundrum.
Rules of origin: The biggest Brexit problem you didn't know about
16 March 2018
Prospect
“Rules of origin are going to be one post-Brexit additional cost to business that no amount of innovative thinking or new and unusual technology can stave off,” Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform told me. The CBI agrees. “For the 135,000 businesses who currently only export to the EU,” it writes in a new report, rules of origin will “be a huge and unprecedented administrative challenge.”
Sorry Britain, EU countries won't break ranks over post-Brexit trade
16 March 2018
Politico
Theresa May has finally spelled out some of the “hard facts” of Brexit, but she’s still holding out hope for that seemingly impossible sweetheart deal: market access as close as possible to the UK’s current arrangement, but with fewer obligations.
Meet the Brexit negotiators: David Davis and Michel Barnier
15 March 2018
Financial Times
“Davis, with his breezy self-confidence, sometimes finds it hard to connect with Barnier, who sticks firmly to the rigorous principles of the EU’s legal order,” says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
BBC World News: Russia spy poisoning
15 March 2018
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform speaks on the recent Russia spy poisoning in Salisbury.