Press
Flexible integration
18 May 2017
Financial Times
After splits emerged between North and South in the euro crisis, and East and West over refugees, plus the Brexit referendum, the EU needs to be more flexible if it is to survive future challenges, writes Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska and Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform.
Macron's proposals are no panacea for eurozone
17 May 2017
The Wall Street Journal
The biggest problem with the euro is that it hasn’t delivered the economic convergence voters expected when it was launched; in fact, it has led to divergence. In 1999, living standards in Germany, France and Italy measured by gross domestic product per capita were broadly the same. Today Germany is significantly richer than France, while Italy has seen its GDP per capita slump from 119% of the EU average in 1999 to below 90% today.
CER podcast: The EU, Russia and China: Difficult neighbours?
17 May 2017
In the week of the One Belt One Road Summit, Ian Bond talks about the complex relationships and rivalries between Russia, China and the EU, and how the EU should move forward to defuse tensions.
TOK FM: Brytyjska kampania wyborcza z brexitem w tle
17 May 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TOK FM about the forthcoming UK elections and Brexit.
TVN24 BiS: Bruksela i Londyn przed starciem wagi ciężkiej. "Brytyjczycy będą musieli coś zapłacić"
16 May 2017
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TVN24 BiS about the UK election and its implications for the Brexit talks.
Europe rightly tries to shape the rules of world trade
15 May 2017
Financial Times
Rem Korteweg is quite right to argue in a new and important paper, published by the Centre for European Reform, that Europe should push to revive and complete the EU-US trade deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. The main prize here is not primarily more trade, but for trade to be shaped in ways that spread the benefits equitably — including in such important areas as workers’ rights, consumer rights and environmental protection. In this regard, Korteweg is exactly right that a system of investment courts is unattractive and the EU should just drop its pursuit of them.
Brexit bullies turn on those sorting out their mess
14 May 2017
The Guardian
As Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform delicately puts it, no civil servant appears to be free to tell the prime minister that what she wants cannot be delivered unless she backs down and accepts freedom of movement and a continuing role for the European court of justice.
Szymański w Londynie: Brexit to wyzwanie, a nie szansa
12 May 2017
Gazeta Prawna
Wiceminister spraw zagranicznych ds. europejskich Konrad Szymański przekonywał w czwartek wieczorem w prestiżowym Królewskim Instytucie Spraw Międzynarodowych Chatham House w Londynie, że "Brexit to nie szansa, ale wyzwanie". Chodzi o to, by ograniczyć szkody. Szymański przedstawił swe stanowisko podczas debaty o przyszłej roli Grupy Wyszehradzkiej w Unii Europejskiej, występując obok swoich odpowiedników z Czech, Słowacji i Węgier. Debata była moderowana przez Agatę Gostyńską-Jakubowską z londyńskiego ośrodka analitycznego Centre for European Reform.
Macron's mission to revitalize French economy won't be easy
11 May 2017
The Daily Mail
Macron offers France a "real opportunity for reform" that will "both pep up France's economy and strengthen his position in Europe," says Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform.
Judy Asks: Is France Europe's redeemer?
10 May 2017
Carnegie Europe
Europe the sinner, at last redeemed by the grace of French President-elect Emmanuel Macron, set to the music of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony - Europhiles may be forgiven for enjoying this fantasy on the evening of 7 May.
What would a large Conservative majority mean for Brexit?
10 May 2017
Financial Times
John Springford of the Centre for European Reform also strikes a note of caution in his latest analysis. It cannot be excluded, he says, that Mrs May will “walk away from the negotiating table, and hope to manage the economic fallout by wrapping herself in the flag, accusing the 27 of ‘ganging up’ on Britain, and deeply wounding the UK’s important alliances with France, Germany and the rest of Europe in the process”.
CER podcast: What does Macron's victory mean for France, the UK, the EU and the world?
08 May 2017
Ian Bond talks to Sophia Besch about the next steps for the newly elected French president.
Co oznacza dla Polski prezydent Macron? Sankcje, marginalizacja i mniej pieniędzy?
08 May 2017
Wiadomosci
Trudno sobie wyobrazić, by w ciągu trzech miesięcy nie tylko uruchomiono Artykuł 7, ale zapada też decyzja o ograniczeniu Polski w prawach członka. Ta procedura jest zbyt skomplikowana, a państwa członkowskie nie mają ochoty podejmować tak drastycznych decyzji - podsumowuje Agata Gosytńska-Jakubowska, analityk Centre for European Reform w Londynie.
Volcanic Macron forces Germany to come clean on its real EU agenda
08 May 2017
The Telegraph
Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform says Mr Macron’s strategic gamble is to restore French credibility, and then to lever this to extract a “new concordat on the euro” from Germany.
EU officials call for calm after week Brexit battle spiralled out of control
07 May 2017
The Guardian
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform in London, said: “The impact of the leak has been to strengthen hardliners in Westminster who want there to be no deal. “Another consequence of the leaking is that the British government no longer believes that the commission is a credible or serious negotiating partner that can be trusted, and that is a real problem.”
France's new president Emmanuel Macron
07 May 2017
USA Today
"The surge of support for Emmanuel Macron shows that liberal, pro-EU centrists may yet have a future in European politics. This would be good for the EU," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
€100bn Brexit bill is 'legally impossible' to enforce, European Commission's own lawyers admit
07 May 2017
The Telegraph
John Springford, director of research, working on economic issues, at the Centre for European Reform in London, said the member-states were undermining the Commission's attempts to stick to a “principles-based” approach. “The Commission is trying to make the Brexit bill legally coherent so that, if negotiations fail, it has a defensible case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague,” he said.
Marine Le Pen vs. Emmanuel Macron: French candidates couldn't be more different
05 May 2017
USA Today
"A Macron victory would break the political mould of the Fifth Republic. Since 1958 France has been ruled by presidents who hail from the mainstream parties of left or right," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
Election rehearsal
05 May 2017
Bloomberg
Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform tweeted that May is wrong to say EU policy makers are interfering in the election. “In fact they want her to win big, so she has the strength to compromise on Brexit,” he said.
Russian EU ambassador says Kremlin has no favorite in French election
04 May 2017
Deutsche Welle
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform (CER), says what surprises him is that Chizhov can say all this with a straight face. "Basically the Putin approach [is that] unless you actually catch me with my hand in the cookie jar, I haven't stolen any cookies," Bond said. "Is he going to come out and say 'yes, of course, we interfere in people's elections'? He's doing precisely what I would expect him to do, which is deny, deny, deny. Does he care if people believe it or not? No, not especially."