Press

"Everybody recognises him as competent and effective, so if he’s given charge of the important energy dossier that is good news because you need someone as experienced as him to handle this sensitive issue," said Charles Grant, director of the CER.

Ian Bond, de la CER: "Sunt pesimist în ceea ce priveşte şansele acestui proiect (Noul Drum al Mătăsii – n.r.). Diferenţele dintre ţările aflate de-a lungul aşa-numitului Nou Drum al Mătăsii sunt enorme şi interesele jucătorilor externi, sunt diferite."

The United Kingdom has always had an uneasy relationship with the European Union. The current UK government has promised the British people that they will get a chance in 2017 to decide whether they should finally break away from the EU entirely. British critics see the European Union as an undemocratic imposition of foreign rules on an unwilling British public, while British proponents see the EU as an important source of British prosperity and a magnifier of British influence in the world.

German investment has been falling steadily over the past two decades, from around 21 per cent of its GDP in the late 1990s to just above 17 per cent now, according to Christian Odendahl of the CER.

"After going along with the damaging strategy of austerity in the hopes that Germany would eventually moderate its position, countries are now saying, ‘Enough is enough.'" said Simon Tilford, the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London.

Simon Tilford, du CER, a écrit une longue note relativisant les problèmes économiques de la France."Ce n'est pas un pays sclérosé, sinon comment expliquer que les investissements étrangers continuent à affluer? Mais si le pays déçoit tant, c'est que les attentes envers ce pays sont très fortes."

"I have never known Berlin more annoyed with France," says Charles Grant, director of the CER."Seen from Berlin, Hollande has wasted two years achieving virtually no structural reform and failing to rein in spending."