In the Press - EU parliament's €114m-a-year move to Strasbourg 'a waste of money', but will it ever be scrapped?
20 May 2019
Euronews
"The biggest obstacle is the French government," said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow for EU justice and home affairs at the Centre for European Reform.
In the Press - Too much has been sacrificed to allow Brexit to destroy Europe’s unity
19 May 2019
The Guardian
Indeed, that well-informed commentator on Europe, Charles Grant, reports in a bulletin from the Centre for European Reform entitled The Brussels View of Brexit that Michel Barnier, leader of the European commission’s negotiating team, is so exasperated, along with President Macron himself, that the French are now in the “we are better off without the British” camp. They wanted a short extension of the article 50 deadline because “the British would not work out what they wanted unless faced with the precipice of a no-deal exit”.
In the Press - European elections will gauge the power of populism
19 May 2019
The New York Times
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow with the Centre for European Reform in Brussels, said the Austria scandal is timely ammunition for those who warn that many populist parties are deeply compromised by their ties to Mr Putin. “It emboldens those who question the populists’ good intentions and who call for greater transparency in the way these parties have been funded and investigations into their links to Russia,” she said.
In the Press - The hidden perils of a trade deal with Trump
17 May 2019
Prospect
Trump could insist we lower food standards—the source of panicked headlines about chlorinated chicken. Sam Lowe at the Centre for European Reform confirmed we could be asked to “remove existing bans on certain food products.”
In the Press - Are we on the verge of committing an extraordinary act of self-harm?
17 May 2019
The Telegraph
In an area like food hygiene, explains Sam Lowe at the Centre for European Reform, the UK cannot benefit from the absence of checks to food exports to Switzerland and Norway. They will be subject to the same full border inspections as the EU is demanding in the event of a ‘no deal’. “The Swiss and Norway agreements could only be bare bones in a ‘no deal’ world since so much is dependent on the EU-UK relationship. It was pitched as a ‘we’ve done it’, when in reality it’s only the start of a process,” he tells me.
In the Press - Scrap the veto
16 May 2019
The Financial Times
Leonard Schuette at the Centre for European Reform makes the case for majority voting in EU foreign policy on sanctions and human rights issues.
In the Press - The Brussels view of Brexit
15 May 2019
The Financial Times
“The EU is no longer as united as it was on how to handle the British. But just about everyone working on Brexit in the EU’s institutions and governments is fed up with them, and they do not believe that Britain’s politicians are capable of getting their act together and resolving the problem. Many people in Brussels expect a further extension of Article 50, well into 2020.” (Charles Grant, Centre for European Reform)
In the Press - Brexit from Brussels
15 May 2019
Financial Times
UK Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins is in Brussels for day two of talks with the EU, this time with his commission counterpart Sabine Weyand. Charles Grant at the CER lays out how some of the EU27’s unity is cracking but exasperation with the Brits is undiminished: “The conduct of the British political class has eroded much of the goodwill that European politicians and officials felt towards the UK. If the British wish to avoid no deal by asking for further extensions they should avoid losing the remaining goodwill that still lingers in certain capitals.”
In the Press - Brexit: May to face MPs as rebels warn she risks defeat on deal in June – live news
15 May 2019
The Guardian
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, has just published a very good paper addressing exactly this question. Here is an extract.EU officials don’t trust British MPs to prevent no deal and some of them think it could happen by accident. For example, what if a Boris Johnson-type figure became prime minister in October, and he or she was determined to leave without a deal?
In the Press - PM's Brexit negotiator jets into Brussels to thrash out a temporary Customs Union compromise
15 May 2019
The Sun
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said: “Many people in Brussels expect a further extension of Article 50, well into 2020. They think that the EU will continue to extend Article 50 rather than be seen to promote no deal.”