Research
Ten years after the Brexit referendum
A new CER essay collection reflects on what the past decade has meant for the UK, the EU, and the future of UK-EU relations.
The cost of Brexit, ten years on: The impact of leaving the customs union and single market on UK trade
18 June 2026
New CER modelling exercise shows that Brexit has substantially reduced the UK’s trade with the EU.
Rearming Europe for deterrence: Short-term priorities and policy options
09 June 2026
There are key steps European governments can take in the next 1-2 years to accelerate rearmament, readiness and deterrence efforts.
Europe has produced tech champions: Here is what they can teach us
27 May 2026
Despite the gloom about its place in the digital economy, Europe has produced tech leaders.
China shock 2.0: The cost of Germany's complacency
20 May 2026
Germany is ground zero of the second China shock, but Berlin is not fighting back, even as the shock erodes the country’s engineering sectors that are vital to its economic security.
The EU is trying to speak the language of power in Africa, but what is it saying?
01 May 2026
Africa is currently the continent with the largest number of armed conflicts in the world – over 50 – representing 40 per cent of all wars globally. This is a 45 per cent increase since 2020.
What Orbán’s departure means for Hungary and for Europe
14 April 2026
Hungary’s voters have ended Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule. Tisza’s win is a unique chance to restore democracy – and a time-limited opportunity for the EU to emerge stronger.
Energy shock 2.0: Lessons from 2022 for the Hormuz crisis
13 April 2026
If the Strait of Hormuz stays closed, Europe will face as serious an energy crisis as it did in 2022. This time, energy poverty policies must be more targeted, and electrification more ambitious.
One year liberation day: The delusion of transatlantic economic divorce
07 April 2026
A year after Liberation Day, Washington and Brussels are still fighting each other – not China.
WTO reform after Yaoundé: What next for the multilateral trade order?
02 April 2026
The failure of the WTO’s ‘reform ministerial’ deepens the strain on the global trade system. But it also points to a possible path for future co-operation among coalitions of the willing.
Articles
EU-Gipfel: „Europa schießt mit einer Luftpistole auf einen Elefanten"
21 June 2026
Table Briefings
Der zweite China-Schock trifft Europa hart – doch Brüssel zögert. Ökonom Sander Tordoir erklärt, warum die Zeit drängt.
Rejoining customs union would not fix damage caused by Brexit, research finds
18 June 2026
The Guardian
Exclusive: Economists find Brexit caused 12% depression in UK exports, most of which is due to leaving single market
Industrie européenne : "La pression chinoise s'exerce sur trois fronts, c'est sans précédent !"
30 May 2026
L'Express
Le choc de compétitivité imposé par la Chine n’obéit pas aux règles habituelles. Pour résister, le Vieux Continent doit faire beaucoup plus, prévient l'économiste Sander Tordoir.
«Un retour à court terme du Royaume-Uni dans l’UE n’est politiquement pas réaliste»
07 May 2026
Le Temps
Le premier ministre britannique, Keir Starmer, multiplie les mesures pour rapprocher son pays de Bruxelles, par «intérêt national» pour contrer les effets désastreux du Brexit. Mais la question européenne reste ultrasensible outre-Manche. L'analyse de Charles Grant, directeur du Centre for European Reform.
Taking the Pulse: Is it worth it for Europeans to placate Trump?
07 May 2026
Carnegie Europe
A year and change into President Trump’s second term, it has become abundantly clear that appeasement only leads to short-term wins.
Magyar is up against the clock in Hungary
16 April 2026
Financial Times
Brussels and Budapest have a rare and fleeting chance to improve Europe’s defence and correct the bloc’s dysfunction.
Press
Ten years on, Brexit's economic impact is becoming clearer
24 June 2026
BBC News
The Centre for European Reform uses a different method, trying to take account of what could have happened if the UK had not been excluded from a more recent surge in intra-EU trade, leading to a goods trade hit of 16% to exports and 14% to imports.
10 ans après le Brexit, l'heure des mécontents
23 June 2026
Deutsche Welle
Anton Spisak, économiste au Centre for European Reform, souligne que le Brexit « a eu un impact considérable sur les investissements ». Selon lui, « cela a eu un impact sur le climat général des affaires et a suscité beaucoup d'incertitude. Les entreprises, elles aiment la certitude, elles aiment les règles stables, elles aiment la prévisibilité » mais le Brexit a été tout le contraire de cela.
Der zerlegte Mann
23 June 2026
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Eine neue Studie der Ökonomen Sander Tordoir und Brad Setser prognostiziert Deutschland sogar einen „China-Schock 2.0“, weil man immer noch glaube, nach einigen Strukturreformen wieder mithalten zu können. China aber spiele nicht nach den Regeln. So drohe Deutschland ganze Schlüsselbranchen wie die Automobilindustrie zu verlieren.
Britain is still deep in the shadow of Brexit
23 June 2026
The New York Times
Trade with Europe has continued but at a lower level, with British exports to the bloc down about 12 per cent, according to the Centre for European Reform, a research group.
Ten years on, Brexit disputes still hold back Britain's reconciliation with EU
23 June 2026
Reuters
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform (CER) think-tank in London, said progress had been "slow and painful", reflecting the broader mistrust that still exists.
A free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Turkey
23 June 2026
The Guardian
Gove used a speech at Vote Leave headquarters on the south bank of the Thames to promise that the UK could leave the EU, but remain in “a free trade zone stretching from Iceland to Turkey”.I asked John Springford, associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform, if that has proved to be true. “I remember that statement,” he says. “I saw that as veiled language. Because the whole strategy in the campaign was to avoid giving any kind of specificity about what sort of relationship they really wanted … a free trade area can mean all sorts of things.”
An absent friend
23 June 2026
Emerging Europe
Last December Charles Grant, who runs the Centre for European Reform, gave the absence a name: the “paradox of French power”. With Britain gone, he argued, the Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has slid towards the industrial interventionism that Paris always favoured.
Ten years after Brexit, British political instability puts brakes on EU-UK “reset”
23 June 2026
The Parliament Magazine
For John Springford, associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform, the most worrying finding from recent studies is that Brexit's economic impact may not be a one-off shock.
EU pays tribute to Starmer and waits for Burnham, the unknown quantity
23 June 2026
RTE
"[YouGov]’s latest survey, a decade later, records the lowest level of support for Brexit so far," said pollster Peter Kellner in a Centre for European Reform essay."Just 29% of Britain’s electors say that Britain was right to vote to leave the EU - the first time the figure has dipped below 30%. 58% say it was wrong to do so - the joint highest figure so far.
Brexit : dix ans après, des dégâts désormais incontestés sur l'économie du Royaume-Uni
22 June 2026
Les Echos
Le Centre for European Reform replace les choses dans leur contexte, celui d'un pays qui met, avec le Brexit, des barrières avec son principal partenaire commercial. Dans une étude publiée vendredi, il constate que les pertes en matière d'importations et d'exportations dues au Brexit sont « importantes » non seulement dans les biens mais, plus contre-intuitivement dans les services.
Podcasts
Unpacking Europe: Rearming Europe for deterrence
10 June 2026
Ian Bond spoke with Armida van Rij and Michael Martin Richter about the new publication ‘Rearming Europe for deterrence’.
Unpacking Europe: The path to EU enlargement
01 June 2026
Zselyke Csaky spoke with Milan Nic about where EU enlargement is headed.
Unpacking Europe: How Europe is responding in Lebanon and Palestine
13 May 2026
Thomas Maddock spoke with Zizette Darkazally and Schams El Ghoneimi about Europe's response to conflict in Lebanon and Palestine.
Unpacking Europe: Is the EU-US trade deal unravelling?
06 May 2026
Anton Spisak spoke with Sam Lowe about the renewed EU-US trade tensions.
Unpacking Europe: Hungary's landslide election outcome
15 April 2026
Zselyke Csaky spoke with Zsuzsanna Szelényi about Hungary's landslide election outcome.
Events
Hybrid discussion on 'Brexit ten years on: Northern Ireland and its future' with Matthew O'Toole and Adam Payne
01 July 2026
Hybrid London/Zoom
With Matthew O'Toole and Adam Payne. Information on how to register here.
CER/Calibrate Management dinner on 'From fragmentation to partnership: Building Europe's Savings and Investment Union together'
16 June 2026
London
With Olaf Sleijpen, President, De Nederlandsche Bank. Read his speech here.
Breakfast on 'The future of Britain's defence industry: A role for Europe?'
16 June 2026
London
With Luke Pollard, UK Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry
CER/HSF discussion on 'Rearming Europe: Short-term priorities for personnel, public support and procurement'
09 June 2026
Brussels
With Andrius Avizius, Ionela Ciolan, Christophe Gomart, Benjamin Hartmann, Armida van Rij and Graham Webber
CER/Kreab breakfast on 'Leading Europe's agenda: Ireland's EU presidency in context'
03 June 2026
Brussels
With Aingeal O'Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the EU