Research
Catalan crisis
05 October 2017
Politico Brussels Playbook
Why Spain needs a constitutional overhaul: Camino Mortera-Martinez for the Centre for European Reform writes that the only way for Madrid to resolve the fragility of the Spanish state without giving into the demands of the Catalan government is to urgently revise the country’s model of regional government.
A compromised king
05 October 2017
Financial Times
Camino Mortera-Martinez, at the Centre for European Reform, says the time has come for a major constitutional overhaul in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy:“What is happening in Catalonia is not a case of a state denying the democratic rights of its people. It is the product of increasingly radical separatism and a constitutional framework that is too rigid to accommodate those demands.”
Catalonia is a huge problem for the European Union because silence won't be enough
04 October 2017
iNews
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont also wants the EU to trigger a mechanism known as Article 7 which would suspend the membership rights of Spain on the grounds that it has breached EU values like the respect for human rights or the rule of law. But there is little chance the EU will use this ‘nuclear option’, according to Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think-tank.
As Brexit transition tears Tories, one deal maybe not enough
02 October 2017
Bloomberg
Britain will have to ask the European Union for two back-to-back transition deals to ease its exit in 2019, according to Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform research institute. The influential think-tank believes Britain will need years to prepare for Brexit and the two-year transition proposal that Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives are still fighting over won’t be nearly enough to protect businesses from a cliff-edge.
Boris Johnson is 'fantastic', says Andrea Leadsom, amid Tory leadership unrest
02 October 2017
The Independent
Ms Leadsom, an ardent Brexiteer, told the Centre for European Reform (CER) fringe event she would remain in the cabinet “as long as the Prime Minister wants” after she diverged from Tory policy by saying the UK would take back control of its “money, borders, laws” by its official exit from the bloc in 2019.
Andrea Leadsom refuses to deny Brexit splits with Theresa May
02 October 2017
New Statesman
Former leadership candidate objected to Brexit transition terms and said: "I shall be in the cabinet just as long as the Prime Minister wants me to be".
Bombardier row is a cautionary lesson in the folly of Brexit
02 October 2017
The Irish Times
Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, believes the EU will wait until the US Trade Commission rules on last week’s decision, probably early next year, before showing its hand: “But the EU will also have a choice. It could see this as an opportunity to step in and demonstrate to the British the benefits of being members of a big market and a strong trade policy, and to expose the Brexiteers and their inability to act. On the other hand, they might decide this is a good opportunity to hang the British out to dry and teach them a lesson, exposing how vulnerable Britain is going to be in a post-Brexit world.”
CER podcast: EU values and interests in the age of Trump
29 September 2017
Sophia Besch talks to Ian Bond about how the European Union can protect the international liberal order, as well as its security interests, when it can no longer rely on partnership with Trump’s America.
The Eurozone will survive after Brexit – even if the UK crashes out of the EU
29 September 2017
The Independent
It is hard to see a ‘no deal’ scenario derailing the Eurozone recovery – the currency union is simply not dependent enough on the UK for that to happen.
Euro and Brexit land
29 September 2017
Financial Times
On the threat of a Trump trade war, Simon Tilford at the CER warns the White House's escalation is just a taste of things to come for post-Brexit Britain: "Brexiters assume Britain will face a benign international environment once freed from the EU to take advantage of open markets elsewhere. They take for granted that the UK would be able to rely on the US underwriting the global trading system. This was always naive, but has become delusional with the election of Donald Trump."
What does the German election mean for Brexit?
28 September 2017
Deutsche Welle
The next round of Brexit talks, planned for October, could be delayed until December, ostensibly due to a lack of progress on trade issues. However, drawn out coalition talks in Germany may also play a role.
What is the Bombardier dispute about? And does it tell us Brexit will be a disaster?
28 September 2017
The Independent
Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform believes so. He has noted that the EU and the US have been quarrelling about state support for Boeing and Airbus (the giant European aircraft manufacturer) for several decades but that this has never resulted in US tariffs on Airbus imports.
Brexiters are being naive over US trade. Bombardier is a taste of things to come
27 September 2017
The Guardian
Outside the EU's protective umbrella, Brexit Britain would be at the mercy of strong-arm US trade tactics.
Germany's Mr Austerity to leave - but may not herald change
27 September 2017
The Daily Mail
Schaeuble spent 130 billion euros less than would have been allowed under the constitution's debt rules, according to Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. That frugality may however leave a successor more room to loosen fiscal policy, either through tax cuts or more spending, or both, he said.
Judy Asks: What next for Europe after the German election?
26 September 2017
Carnegie Europe
Experts from Europe and across the globe weigh in on the range of domestic, European, and foreign policy priorities facing German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the new coalition government in Berlin.
Sky News: Merkel admits 'challenge' of AfD winning seats in parliament
25 September 2017
Christian Odendahl speaks to Sky News on the results of the German electioins (from 02.50 mins)
Merkel's win comes with EU prestige intact, but power weakened
25 September 2017
Deutsche Welle
Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform (CER) said Merkel's position will not be significantly weakened in the eyes of other EU leaders, but the less "wiggle room" she now has domestically will affect her ability to make deals with the bloc. Instead of having a commanding majority in the parliament, Odendahl pointed out, "she'll have to look carefully at all sides to make sure everyone's happy in her coalition – which will be a difficult coalition to begin with."
Macron to pledge to plough on with Europe reforms despite German electoral setback
25 September 2017
The Telegraph
Christian Odendahl, the senior economist at the Centre for European Reform in Berlin, said that there was still a "fundamental difference" in view between France and Germany, which is demanding that any burden-sharing must be accompanied by measures to tighten control over national fiscal policies."I don’t think his eurozone reforms will go very far now," Mr Odendahl predicted. "Macron will be be disappointed."
German election: Who will be in the 'Jamaica' coalition with Angela Merkel?
25 September 2017
The Express
Sophia Besch, research fellow at the CER, said the German elections will not affect the outcome of Brexit because all the parties share a similar stance. She said: "All major German parties want to maintain close economic and political ties to Britain post-Brexit, and limit the economic fallout. "But Germans are also adamant that there will be no cherry-picking by the British after Brexit, that means no selective participation in the single market."
Merkel's poll win unlikely to make much difference to Brexit, analysts say
25 September 2017
The Guardian
The EU and single market are a “core national interest” for Germany, “essential to its stability, security and prosperity”, said Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform. All major parties and most voters bar the 13% who cast their ballots for the anti-immigrant AfD want more EU cooperation, not less.The FDP may be more pro-business, but it will be a junior partner in the likely coalition and got badly burned the last time it governed with the CDU. It will use its few bargaining chips “very carefully, and almost certainly not on Brexit”, Odendahl said.