Press

Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform think tank said Johnson likely believed that a “firm deadline” would help speed up trade talks with the EU. But he told the BBC that the British government “could easily introduce a later bill saying ‘actually we could extend it.’”“It’s a firmer deadline, but of course there is still some flexibility,” Lowe said.

Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, has speculated that such a mechanism could be modelled on the agreement offered to the Swiss to manage their relationship with the EU.

Der Vorstoß sei „ein bisschen theatralisch”, findet auch Brexit-Experte Sam Lowe vom Centre for European Reform, „das Datum wird festgeschrieben, aber natürlich ist das flexibel“, sagt er im BBC. Die entscheidende Frage sei, ob Boris Johnson einen No-Deal wolle oder nicht. „Die Vergangenheit zeigt, dass er das nicht tut“.

The always well-informed Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, reads the tea leaves. Will he be right? "The election gives BJ the freedom to extend the transition, and to align UK & EU rules, if he wants to. He will probably do this, since leaving the transition without an FTA would be painful for the economy. He can take on ERG since he is master of his party."

„Es ist in Trumps Interesse, dass sich die britische Regierung dem Regel- und Zollwerk der EU entzieht. Vor allem im Bereich der Lebensmittelvorschriften“, sagt Sam Lowe, Handelsexperte am Centre for European Reform.

Breaking with the EU may slow Britain’s economic growth in coming years, said Sam Lowe, a researcher at the Centre for European Reform, a London think tank. “But with the majority he has he can probably afford some economic pain,” he said, while adding that a hit to the economy would make it harder to for Mr. Johnson to satisfy his new cohort of working-class supporters.

As the redoubtable Sam “Big Sam” Lowe of the Centre for European Reform points out, an EU-UK bilateral negotiated by end-2020 won’t look much different for most companies than a no-deal Brexit. Trade Secrets is 1-0 up, and the game’s into self-inflicted injury time.

These agreements are "largely low-hanging fruits strategically," Khrystyna Parandii, a fellow at the London-based Centre for European Reform, said in a tweet. ...But she added that they have "important humanitarian implications" - something Zelenskiy had stressed in comments before the talks on a war that has killed more than 13,000 people, displaced millions, and left many remaining residents of the war-torn areas living in dire conditions.