Research
Google’s failure to quash EU antitrust ruling has broad implications for tech companies
15 September 2022
Computerworld
Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said the decision poses significant questions for the wider tech sector as it does not only challenge a particular business practice, but potentially Google’s underlying business strategy of offering services, such as Android—which make no revenue—to drive consumers towards services which Google can monetise, like Google search.“Many other large tech firms like Amazon and Meta adopt similar practices, producing an ecosystem of services—only some of which are profit-making—but which mutually reinforce each other,” Meyers said, noting that although their situations are not directly comparable, these firms will be keeping a close eye on proceedings in order to not fall foul of the same accusations.
Who is Giorgia Meloni? Far-right leader may be Italy's first female leader
13 September 2022
The Washington Post
Especially as it pertains to her positions on Europe, she has moderated more noticeably than the other Western European nationalist who earlier this year made a run for power, France’s Marine Le Pen. While Le Pen’s platform had ideas that would have led to standoffs with Brussels — like prioritizing national law over E.U. law — Meloni’s does not, said Luigi Scazzieri, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.“This kind of sanitization and Europeanization has gone a lot further in Meloni’s case than in Le Pen’s,” Scazzieri said.
State of the Union: What has the Commission done since the last speech and what it plans to unveil
13 September 2022
Euronews
"I think COVID-19 is going to be regarded as one of the major success stories of the European Union over the years to come," Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels Office of the Centre for European Reform (CER), another think-tank, told Euronews.
MPs likely to be recalled for emergency ‘budget’ after Queen’s funeral next week
12 September 2022
The Guardian
Back to relations with the EU, and Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform thinktank, says he thinks British officials are trying to persuade Liz Truss to accept an invitation to the first meeting of the European Political Community in Prague in October.
El nuevo liderazgo de España en la Unión Europea, ante la oportunidad de jugar "el papel que le corresponde"
11 September 2022
RTVE
"Lo que se le achaca a España habitualmente es un perfil bastante bajo en la UE, una falta de ambición para marcar agenda. Pero con el tema de la energía se está poniendo las pilas y está ejerciendo un liderazgo bastante importante", explica a RTVE.es Camino Mortera, responsable de la oficina de Bruselas del think tank Centre for European Reform (CER).
Radio France: Mort d'Elizabeth II : royauté et identité britanniques en question
10 September 2022
Le 8 septembre vers 19h30, le palais de Buckingham annonçait qu'Elizabeth II s'était éteinte "paisiblement" dans son château de Balmoral. A 96 ans, après 70 ans de règne, la reine laisse les 56 états du Commonwealth orphelins. Que représente ce royaume de 2.5 milliards d'habitants ? Avec: Charles Grant, Directeur du Centre...
Fixing the protocol
09 September 2022
Financial Times
Even if relations between the UK and the EU are in a pretty bad place, it is possible to find a way forward, provided both sides are prepared to move and then engage in hard, detailed negotiation, writes the Centre for European Reform in this policy brief.
Europe's energy crisis: How will EU ministers address rising prices?
09 September 2022
Euronews
Elisabetta Cornago, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, explained that the way the EU energy market is designed, demand is met by the cheapest power plants up until the most expensive power plants.The most expensive power plant then determines the price for the entire market.
Liz Truss: What will the UK's new prime minister mean for Europe?
05 September 2022
Euronews
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, reported in June after a visit to Paris speaking to officials that "British-French relations are still dire"."All French fed up that Johnson, Truss and their briefers keep saying 'French soft on Ukraine' when in substance UK and France have [the] same position," he tweeted.
Liz Truss’s blustery style triggers EU eye rolls, but a trade misjudgement could prove serious
04 September 2022
iNews
“She [Ms Truss] treats the EU as a Tory Party conference, playing to the gallery,” says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. “If she sticks to the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, that guarantees bad relations and possibly a trade war.”
How to spend Europe’s defense bonanza intelligently
02 September 2022
Politico
“The basic issue remains that European countries still lack a truly cooperative mindset when it comes to developing, acquiring and operating defense capabilities together,” wrote Ian Bond and Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform.
Liz Truss is about to get her hands on Brexit dynamite
02 September 2022
The Washington Post
There’s an appreciation in Europe that the British have some good points on problems with the Protocol, notes Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. But there has to be a basis of trust on which to reach an agreement. “If Truss wants to surprise and make a trip to Dublin, a deal is doable,” Grant says. “But she has to focus on the practical problem of trade friction, not more ideological things.”
BBC Radio 4: The Briefing Room Can we keep the lights on this winter?
01 September 2022
Elisabetta Cornago a senior research fellow at the CER, joined other experts to speak with David Aaronovitch in The Briefing Room (from 09:28 mins) to speak abour soaring energy costs.
The nightmare in-tray facing Britain’s next prime minister
30 August 2022
Financial Times
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, is pessimistic: “So long as the British persist with the Northern Ireland bill — and I fear Truss will — it will be impossible to have a better relationship with the EU,” he said.
Metina Lista: Evropska četrt 102: Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform
30 August 2022
Charles Grant, director of the CER spoke on the Metina Lista podcast about the many futures for the European Union, the state of a relationship between the EU and the UK, is Macron the leader that the Europe needs and what should be a path forward for Western Balkans.
Macron's plan to turn Brexit Britain into ‘satellite of Brussels’ slammed by UK
28 August 2022
The Express
Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform also said that Mr Macron's idea has the backing of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
The expert added: “The move is highly significant. There is a strong desire for a rapprochement with the UK, and they might even be willing to rewrite the Protocol, if there is a different prime minister. Relations with Boris Johnson are now too toxic."
The expert added: “The move is highly significant. There is a strong desire for a rapprochement with the UK, and they might even be willing to rewrite the Protocol, if there is a different prime minister. Relations with Boris Johnson are now too toxic."
Ask CER - Episode 6: The EU's China challenge, its plans for tax reform, and the unfinished banking union
24 August 2022
You asked, we answered: the sixth episode of our 'Ask CER' podcast series.
Brexit's unavoidable gravity squeezes UK scientists
23 August 2022
Blomberg
As Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform notes, a lot of the damage has already been done. While both sides suffer from this dispute being dragged out, it’s the UK, as with most Brexit matters, that has more to lose. ...Meyers notes that while the UK was getting more out of Horizon in financial terms than it was putting in, it’s the qualitative elements that signify the bigger loss.
How to boost NATO-EU co-operation
19 August 2022
Project Syndicate
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown that Europe can no longer afford to treat quasi-theological arguments over EU and NATO primacy as more important than its own security.
The war that changed the world: Six months in, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed a global order in transition
17 August 2022
The New Statesman
As John Springford of the Centre for European Reform noted in a recent article for the think-tank, Covid-19 has caused services trade to rise and goods trade to fall but recover relatively quickly, while foreign direct investment and migration flows have continued to surge.