Research

Working hand in hand? EU-UK co-operation in supporting Ukraine

Working hand in hand? EU-UK co-operation in supporting Ukraine

20 May 2024
The EU and the UK have worked together closely to support Ukraine. Now they need to sustain support and strengthen their co-operation to be ready for possible US disengagement.
Europe must choose: Multiculturalism or stagnation?

Europe must choose: Multiculturalism or stagnation?

09 May 2024
An increasingly multi-ethnic society would safeguard Europe’s prosperity – or it can opt for nativism, labour shortages and higher taxes. 
Can the EU hold back the great tech decoupling?

Can the EU hold back the great tech decoupling?

03 May 2024
The US wants Europe to adopt stronger limits on high-tech goods trade with China. In response, the EU should insist the US stick with de-risking, not decoupling, and demand greater transatlantic economic co-operation.
The European Parliament elections: A sharp right turn?

The European Parliament elections: A sharp right turn?

30 April 2024
Right-wing forces are set to make sizeable gains in the European Parliament elections. That will tilt the Parliament right on many issues and could give these parties momentum nationally.
Living next door to an elephant: Lessons for the UK from EFTA

Living next door to an elephant: Lessons for the UK from EFTA

29 April 2024
After Brexit, the UK finds itself next door to a regional trade hegemon. Britain can draw useful lessons from the experience of the EFTA countries.
Does it matter if Ukraine loses?

Does it matter if Ukraine loses?

24 April 2024
Ukraine is retreating and Russia is advancing, militarily and politically. Western leaders seem to underestimate both the impact of Ukraine’s defeat and the West’s ability to prevent it.
Enrico Letta's report: More than a market, but less than an agenda

Enrico Letta's report: More than a market, but less than an agenda

23 April 2024
Enrico Letta’s report on the single market offers largely sensible ideas to strengthen the EU’s economy. But he leaves member-states the job of prioritising and tackling the trade-offs.
Dilemmas and challenges around the EU budget

Dilemmas and challenges around the EU budget

Iain Begg
08 April 2024
The EU budget needs extensive reform both to resolve longstanding shortcomings and in anticipation of a further enlargement of the Union.
And the winner is… Vladimir Putin (for now)

And the winner is… Vladimir Putin (for now)

21 March 2024
Putin’s ‘election victory’ does not mean that he will remain in power forever. Western leaders should plan for continued confrontation, but (unlike Putin) they should not fear change in Russia. 
Better regulation in Europe: An action plan for the next Commission

Better regulation in Europe: An action plan for the next Commission

19 March 2024
As Europe tries to boost its economic growth and become more innovative, the EU must reinvigorate the ‘better regulation’ agenda – and adapt it to how the EU institutions are evolving.

Articles

Judy Asks: Are Europeans prepared to send troops to Ukraine?

Judy Asks: Are Europeans prepared to send troops to Ukraine?

16 May 2024
Carnegie Europe
Deploying troops to Ukraine, even for non-combat duties, entails risks most European countries are currently unwilling to take. The priority right now must be ramping up aid to Kyiv.
It’s up to the EU to hold back the great tech decoupling

It's up to the EU to hold back the great tech decoupling

03 May 2024
EurActiv
EU countries can no longer ignore growing pressure from countries seeking a tougher line on China, nor can they ignore China’s efforts to replace Western firms in high-tech supply chains.
Immigration can help Europe bridge the demographic deficit

Immigration can help Europe bridge the demographic deficit

02 May 2024
Financial Times
The radical right is likely to make big gains in the European parliament elections next month, with the “great replacement’ theory — that liberal elites are promoting immigration from outside Europe to undermine ethnic and cultural homogeneity — becoming increasingly influential.

Varoitus lännen Ukraina-linjan epämääräisyydestä – ”täysimittainen hyökkäys Nato-maahan”

01 May 2024
Verkkouutiset
Puolustussotaa käyvän Ukrainan tilanne on brittiläisen ulko- ja turvallisuuspolitiikan asiantuntijan Ian Bond mukaan erityisen vaarallinen osaltaan siksi, että läntiset poliitikot ovat ilmaisseet omat tavoitteensa liian epämääräisesti.
Seven expert views: America first, Europe alone?

Seven expert views: America first, Europe alone?

19 March 2024
Clingendael Spectator
If Joe Biden is re-elected, and the Democrats control both the US Senate and the House of Representatives, then there would be scope for increased transatlantic co-operation.
Judy Asks: Has the war in Gaza irreversibly damaged Europe's credibility?

Judy Asks: Has the war in Gaza irreversibly damaged Europe's credibility?

14 March 2024
Carnegie Europe
Europe’s response to the war in Gaza has greatly undermined its credibility in the Middle East and beyond.

Press

Ukrainan tukemista läntisin joukoin pidetään yhä todennäköisempänä

19 May 2024
Verkkouutiset
Ranskan presidentti Emmanuel Macron toimii Centre for European Reform -ajatushautomon apulaisjohtajan, suurlähettiläs Ian Bondin mielestä viisaasti korostaessaan kevään kuluessa useaan otteeseen, että länsijoukkojen lähettämistä Ukrainaan ei pitäisi sulkea pois.

China's Belt & Road: Building bridges not walls

18 May 2024
EU Reporter
Another to pick up on this is the highly respected Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in the UK. He told this website, “When it was first conceived, the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’, linking China and Europe overland, seemed to offer Europe the chance to work with China on opening up Central Asia and giving new life to EU assistance programmes for the region that had been struggling along since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Onko nyt edessä uusi brexit? Erikoinen ratkaisu kätkee Hollannin todellisen vallankäyttäjän

18 May 2024
Uusi Suomi
Euroalueen talouteen erikoistunut Centre fo European Reform -ajatuspajan ekonomisti Sander Tordoir pitää sen sijaan huolestuttavana sitä, että Hollannin uusi hallitus linjaa olevansa “erittäin kriittinen” EU:n laajentumisen suhteen.Tordoir ennakoi, että linjaus voi aiheuttaa kitkaa Euroopan komission kanssa. Lisäksi hän arvioi, että komissio saattaa puuttua maahanmuuttopolitiikan tiukennuksiin.

Who is Russia's new defence minister Andrei Belousov, and why did Putin appoint him?

16 May 2024
Euronews
“If Belousov can ensure that money is spent more efficiently, then the pressure on Ukraine is likely to grow, and the threat to the rest of Europe will also increase,” Ian Bond, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform (CER),  think-tank, told Euronews.

Companies count the cost of compliance with green regulation

16 May 2024
Financial Times
In a recent analysis of EU policy-making, Zach Meyers, assistant director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, says the European Commission, in its attempts to deal with crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, “has become a more political body”.  This means, he argues, that the EU “has lost one of its strengths: having a technocratic lawmaking body focused on designing laws based on evidence and good practice, and which is less beholden to short-term politics than the European parliament and European Council”.

Driving the day: Great expectations

16 May 2024
Politico
“A key question will be whether [Draghi] is going bold on fiscal integration,” said Sander Tordoir, a senior economist at the Centre for European Reform, which would mean “more solidarity and more discipline.” China is the other big question: “The entire Brussels consensus is still ‘let’s not be harsh on China, while they have not fully up their mind” on how to handle overproduction, dumping, and a landscape where the two biggest economies have abandoned free trade, he said.

Europe's new power map, from ASML to the Arctic

15 May 2024
Bloomberg
Sander Tordoir and Zach Meyers of the Centre for European Reform suggest more targeted support for areas of dominance like ASML's tech, a more pan-European approach to industrial policy and the creation of alliances with like-minded partners on chip supplychains.

Europe’s economy is a cause for concern, not panic

14 May 2024
The Economist
Europe is back to having a trade surplus and a fiscal deficit that looks a lot better than America’s these days, points out Sander Tordoir of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. 

Putin-style law leaves Georgia at a crossroads

14 May 2024
Yorkshire Bylines
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, also told this site, “The paradox of Georgia is that it has the most pro-EU population in the former Soviet space, and has come further than any other Eastern European country in tackling corruption, but it now has one of the most anti-EU governments, controlled from behind the scenes by an oligarch who made his money in Russia in the 1990s.

Far-right EU election gains could boost nationalist parties on home turf

11 May 2024
The Guardian
First, said Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform (CER) think-tank, the parties that make up the current “grand coalition” of conservatives, socialists and liberals “are likely to lose a substantial number of seats, but maintain their overall majority”.

Podcasts

CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: How is China's foreign policy shifting?

Charles Grant, Dr Yu Jie
15 May 2024
Charles Grant and Dr Yu Jie discuss China's foreign policy.

CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: Evaluating Enrico Letta’s report on the single market

24 April 2024
Aslak Berg and Zach Meyers discuss Enrico Letta's report.

CER Podcast: Unlocking better regulation in Europe

Zach Meyers, Anthony Teasdale
11 April 2024
Anthony Teasdale and Zach Meyers discuss better regulation.

CER Podcast: Can Berlin and Brussels disentangle their economy from China’s grasp?

Sander Tordoir, Shahin Vallée
27 March 2024
Sander Tordoir and Shahin Vallée discuss China and Germany's relationship.

CER Podcast: How is the EU's role in European defence changing?

13 March 2024
Charles Grant and Luigi Scazzieri discuss the EU's role in European defence.

Events

CER/HSF hybrid discussion on 'Why do the European Parliament elections matter?'

16 May 2024
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Eli Gateva, Catherine Fieschi, Tom Nuttall, Anja Richter, Nathalie Tocci and Klaus Welle

Dinner on 'Can EU financial regulation and supervision succeed with an incomplete banking union?'

07 May 2024
London
With Andrea Enria, former Chair of the Supervisory Board, European Central Bank

CER/UCL European Institute hybrid discussion on 'The Russian presidential election'

10 April 2024
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Chris Allan, Ben Noble, Ekaterina Schulmann and Gulnaz Sharafutdinova

CER/ECB discussion on 'The euro area's economic outlook and monetary policy path'

27 March 2024
Brussels
With Piero Cipollone, Jeromin Zettelmeyer and Sander Tordoir