Research
In defence of a bad deal
07 August 2025
The EU-US deal will hurt their economies, raise tariffs and weaken the global legal order. But despite it all, the EU was right to accept.
The Helsinki Final Act at 50: Relevant, or a relic?
28 July 2025
The Helsinki Final Act played a key role in ending the Cold War, but the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to which it gave birth, has progressively been sidelined in Europe’s security architecture.
The EU Emissions Trading System in a larger EU
24 July 2025
Integrating EU candidate countries into the EU ETS would incentivise them to decarbonise their emissions-intensive electricity mix and heavy industries. Gradual integration would soften the economic impact of a high carbon price.
In transatlantic trade talks, the EU must keep digital policy off the table
18 July 2025
The UK has shifted some of its digital policies to appease the US president. But Brussels should adjust its tech agenda to boost its own competitiveness – not to cave in to Donald Trump.
Towards a decarbonised energy system in a larger EU
16 July 2025
Enlarging the energy union to include EU candidate countries would benefit both current and future EU member-states. Expanding the EU energy market would support energy decarbonisation, security and affordability.
The next steps for the UK-EU reset
19 June 2025
The UK-EU summit last month was an important step towards closer co-operation and a strategic partnership. Both sides now need to turn that ambition into detailed sectoral negotiations with a clear timescale.
Reconciling UK migration policy with the energy transition
18 June 2025
Many foreign workers that are needed to deliver the British government's net zero mission will not meet its higher salary and skills thresholds for visas.
Elections in Poland and Romania: What do the results mean for Europe?
13 June 2025
Both elections tested democratic resilience and, while confirming the status quo on most EU policies, showed that anti-establishment sentiment is here to stay.
The case for using the Anti-Coercion Instrument against Russia
05 June 2025
The EU sanctions regime against Russia is threatened by a Hungarian veto. The Anti-Coercion Instrument would allow the EU to bypass Budapest.
NATO summit 2025: Time to build a proper European pillar?
02 June 2025
Neither an ‘EU-plus’ nor a ‘NATO-minus’ could fill all the gaps that would be left in European security if the US radically reduced its commitment to NATO.
Articles
Der zweite China-Schock: Wogegen sich Deutschland und Europa wappnen müssen
24 July 2025
Die Politische Meinung
Die deutsche Industrie gerät unter Druck – nicht durch Innovationsrückstände, sondern durch eine strukturelle globale Verschiebung: China produziert am Bedarf vorbei, die USA schotten sich ab, und Deutschland verliert Teile seiner traditionellen Exportmärkte.
For European economic policy, the new world has yet to be born
23 July 2025
Intereconomics
As Europe revisits its economic strategy – spurred by calls to “make Europe competitive again” – it must move beyond stylised contrasts and ask what it takes to build and scale technological capacity today.
Trump grozi wysokimi cłami Unii Europejskiej. Ekspert: „Eskalacja będzie trudna do uniknięcia”
18 July 2025
„Najnowsza groźba Trumpa uczyniłaby eksport UE nieopłacalnym. W takim przypadku Unia nie ma wiele do stracenia, odpowiadając ostro” – mówi nam ekonomista Sander Tordoir
Taking the Pulse: Should the EU bite the 10 per cent tariff bullet with the United States?
10 July 2025
Carnegie Endowment
If the EU wanted a shot at pushing tariffs below 10 per cent, it would have had to retaliate forcefully alongside China after Liberation Day, on April 2, 2025. But a 10 per cent tariff is manageable for EU exports and was priced in by Wall Street.
"La Hongrie de Viktor Orban est devenue un régime hybride entre la démocratie et la dictature"
28 June 2025
Franceinfo
Selon le Parlement européen, la Hongrie ne peut plus être considérée comme une démocratie. Car depuis 2010, le Premier ministre Viktor Orban a "façonné les institutions démocratiques pour lui conférer un pouvoir quasi illimité", explique la chercheuse Zselyke Csaky à franceinfo.
How to survive a trade war: A case for EU burden-sharing
27 June 2025
The Parliament Magazine
President Donald Trump’s tariff pause is a chance for the EU to get its house in order and figure out a measured response to the US trade threats.
Press
Zölle vs starker Euro + Verantwortung für Waldbrände
21 August 2025
Table Briefings
Gemäß Sander Tordoir, Chefökonom beim Centre forEuropean Reform, sind dies die positiveren Wirtschaftsaussichten für Europa aufgrundder angekündigten Infrastrukturinvestitionen Deutschlands, die Unsicherheit in denUSA, sowie die chinesische Währungsmanipulation. Die ersten beiden Gründe sind er-freuliche Entwicklungen für die EU-Wirtschaft, da sie Kapitalkosten senken und somitInvestitionen vereinfachen sollten. Gefährlich ist aber die Währungsmanipulation Chi-nas. Tordoir fürchtet einen „China-Schock im Hyperdrive“.
Security guarantees? Face time With Putin? Zelenskyy gets warmer Trump reception but unclear results
19 August 2025
Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
“I viewed this from the beginning as a damage-limitation exercise, and I think to some extent it achieved that,” said Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who is now deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London. “Clearly, it was a lot better than the meeting in February.”
‘A million more dead’: The numbers that show Russia is years from victory
19 August 2025
The Telegraph
None of these factors mean Russia is facing imminent collapse, says Ian Bond, deputy director for the Centre for European Reform in London.There is no sign that the casualty rate or the economic strains of the war have created any kind of serious domestic political challenge to Putin so far.“But Russia is strong until it’s not. It looks mighty, and then mental fatigue sets in, and things fall apart quite quickly,” he says.
Trump's ceasefire pivot will cause dismay in Kyiv and Europe
16 August 2025
BBC News
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform and a former British diplomat, said Moscow's territorial demand was a non-starter."If Trump thinks that Zelensky is going to agree to give up the fortress cities of the Donetsk oblast, just to get Putin to stop making war on him, he's out of his mind," he said."It shows how little he still understands about the situation and the geography of Ukraine."
European leaders hope to sway Trump on Ukraine during virtual meeting
13 August 2025
Euronews
One of the central issues for Europeans, Ian Bond told Euronews, is that Trump appears to be treating a possible peace deal in Ukraine "like a real estate transaction". "He does not understand that some of the territory in the east of Ukraine that Putin covets would be vital to Ukraine’s defence when (and it is ‘when’ not ‘if’) Russia resumes its aggression and tries to take more Ukrainian territory," the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER) added.
That’s a feature, not a bug
08 August 2025
Politico Brussels Playbook
In a “defense of a bad deal,” the Centre for European Reform’s Aslak Berg writes: “This deal does not depend on trust — the EU retains the option to retaliate if either the deal falls through or Trump comes back with fresh demands.”
Export China groeit sterk, ondanks heffingenstrijd met de Verenigde Staten
07 August 2025
de Volkskrant
Volgens Sander Tordoir, hoofdeconoom van denktank Center for European Reform, gaat het niet alleen om goedkope consumentengoederen van Temu of Alibaba. De Chinese industrie heeft zich in de hoogwaardige industrie omgevormd tot de meest geduchte concurrent die Europa ooit heeft gehad.
Can this Cold War agreement broker peace between Russia and the West?
01 August 2025
Gzero Media
“It was a very unusual assembly,” says Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform. “The fact that two sides that were brandishing nuclear weapons at each other were nonetheless able to find an agreement of this sort, is pretty extraordinary in itself.”
Tariffs, net zero, Russia: no wonder Von der Leyen sleeps at work
03 August 2025
The Sunday Times
She has become the most powerful — and impressive — head of the commission since Jacques Delors, who headed the body for a decade from 1985, according to Charles Grant, head of the Centre for European Reform.Von der Leyen and her chef de cabinet, Björn Seibert, 45 — a protégé since her time as Germany’s defence minister in the 2010s — “take all the key decisions on all the key dossiers,” Grant said. “The other commissioners are really annoyed because they are seldom consulted.”
Why Europe should fear Trump’s deregulatory blitz – not his tariffs
01 August 2025
EurActiv
Europe’s banking sector is "riding the wave of deregulation fetish even if profitability has been improving dramatically” as a result of the European Central Bank’s higher interest rates, said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.
Podcasts
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: Trump’s tariffs and digital policy
23 July 2025
Zselyke Csaky and Zach Meyers discuss digital policy as Trump's tariffs are back on the agenda.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: Immigration reform in the UK
09 July 2025
John Springford and Madeleine Sumption discuss the British government's white paper on immigration.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The 2025 NATO summit
01 July 2025
Charles Grant and Luigi Scazzieri discuss the recent NATO summit of 25-26 June.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: The geopolitics of the war in the Middle East
25 June 2025
Charles Grant and Gideon Rachman discuss the geopolitics of the war in the Middle East.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: Britain's trade stagnation
04 June 2025
Elisabetta Cornago and Anton Spisak discuss what has contributed to the stagnation of Britain’s trade since 2020.
Events
Hybrid launch of 'The Routledge Guide to the European Union (2nd edition)'
22 July 2025
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Ian Bond, Mark Leonard and Armida van Rij. Watch the video of the event here.
Hybrid discussion on 'The Liberal Democrat approach to the UK-EU reset'
14 July 2025
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Daisy Cooper. Watch the video of the event here.
CER/KAS hybrid discussion on 'How will EU enlargement shape the EU-UK relationship?'
08 July 2025
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Amelia Hadfield and Luigi Scazzieri
Dinner on 'The future of British trade policy'
10 June 2025
London
With Douglas Alexander, Minister of State (Minister for Trade Policy & Economic Security), Department for Business & Trade & Minister of State, Cabinet Office, UK
Dinner on 'The importance of international law'
05 June 2025
London
With Richard Hermer, UK Attorney General