Press

BBC Radio 4 - Today Programme: Brexit talks

Sam Lowe
07 December 2020
Sam Lowe a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform spoke to Nick Robinson about the UK's choices: either accept tariffs on day one, when there isn't a deal, or risk them being imposed in future if it breaches commitments.

BBC News: Brexit: PM talks with EU chief

Sam Lowe
07 December 2020
Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at ther CER spoke to BBC News about why the UK's provisional willingness to remove some Internal Market Bill clauses could spell good news for a UK-EU trade deal.

BBC Radio Scotland: Brexit talks - trade deal?

Sam Lowe
07 December 2020
Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the CER, spoke to BBC Radio Scotland this lunchtime about why we should be realistic about what a UK-EU trade deal can achieve, but the importance of one nonetheless.

Fears that UK will not cope with Brexit and Covid vaccine rollout

Sam Lowe
06 December 2020
The Observer
As Sam Lowe, a former member of the Department for International Trade’s Strategic Trade Advisory Group, now a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, says, there is a possibility that the two issues will intersect and collide, making matters worse. “There are going to be delays at the borders and it is going to take the EU and UK a while to get used to trading under the new system and it is possible that imported equipment necessary for dealing with the pandemic gets caught up in that,” says Lowe.

Brexit wrangle turns into classic Anglo-French confrontation

04 December 2020
Financial Times
“There is a certain element of theatre to the French behaviour,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. “They play Mr Nasty and [Germany’s Angela] Merkel plays Mrs Nice.” 

Britain’s little ports caught in a Brexit storm

Sam Lowe
04 December 2020
Politico
“HMRC should provide some of these sites with people,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at Centre for European Reform, who has studied the risk of accidental illegality come the end of Brexit transition. “There should also be an acceptance that they will take a while to adapt. Government should also step in to prevent them losing business to larger ports,” he said.

CER podcast: Can the EU use trade and investment policies to advance its strategic goals?

John Springford, Soumaya Keynes
03 December 2020
John Springford spoke to Soumaya Keynes about US trade policy and the Biden administration’s approach towards China.

CISAC Stanford: Russia's challenge to the West: A British perspective

01 December 2020
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform spoke to Stephen Pifer, about Russia and the UK.

Trade secrets: John Springford answers three questions

30 November 2020
Financial Times
Will it actually make much difference whether the UK and EU reach a Brexit deal or not? A free trade agreement (FTA) is so disappointing compared with the single market that it’s tempting not to care.

Europe news round-up

27 November 2020
Financial Times
The Centre for European Reform argues in a report that a deal between the EU and the UK on international co-operation looks unlikely. It thinks London could try to “divide and rule” EU states on international questions, a strategy the EU will be “wary” of. The paper analyses the EU’s portfolio of foreign policy agreements and how well they work — or not.

Merkels Signal "ist völlig irre"

Christian Odendahl
27 November 2020
NTV
Ökonom Christian Odendahl kritisiert die Ansage der Kanzlerin, die Finanzhilfen könnten "nicht bis Ultimo" gezahlt werden.

Deutschland muss in Peking eigene Interessen durchsetzen, ohne Schoßhund der USA zu werden

Sophia Besch, Leonard Schuette
27 November 2020
Der Tagesspiegel
Die Corona Pandemie hat den Großmachtkonflikt zwischen China und den USA weiter verschärft.

Covid-19 means economic forecasts could be totally wide of the mark as Boris Johnson hits out at ‘gloomy’ data

Sam Lowe
26 November 2020
iNews
Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform said: “If the vaccine is effective and rolled out quickly we could see a bit of a consumer-led economic boom in the next few years.”

Judy Asks: Can the EU solve the budget and rule-of-law crisis?

Ian Bond, Christian Odendahl
26 November 2020
Carnegie Europe
Hungary and Poland have vetoed the next EU budget in protest of a new rule-of-law conditionality. What instruments and treaties can Europe use to circumvent Budapest and Warsaw’s hostage-taking?

CER podcast: Is Europe falling behind technologically?

Christian Odendahl, Stephanie Flanders
25 November 2020
Christian Odendahl spoke to Stephanie Flanders about Europe’s position in the worldwide tech race, the merits of European competition policy and the EU’s ability to drive up standards in the digital world.

What Britain’s ‘rollover’ trade deal with Canada really means

Sam Lowe
24 November 2020
The Telegraph
Other potential upgrades could come on areas such as gender, the environment and digital trade, none of which  should be too tricky given they are issues on which both countries are broadly aligned, according to Sam Lowe, senior fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

Deutscher Bundestag: Experten befürworten Mehrheitsentscheide in der GASP

Sophia Besch
23 November 2020
Sophia Besch a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform gave evidence to the Bundestag Committee for European Union Affairs, on qualified majority voting in EU foreign policy.

BBC Radio 4 - The Week in Westminster: What is going on with Brexit talks?

21 November 2020
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform argues that the political imperatives affecting Boris Johnson are compelling enough to reach a compromise in the next few days, but it's not certain (from 18: 46 mins).

President Biden: Good for Europe, but not a miracle-worker

19 November 2020
Encompass
As long as Donald Trump doesn’t stage a coup d’état, Joe Biden will be sworn in as US President on January 20th 2021, and most of Europe will breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Can India help Greece counter the Turkey-Pakistan-Azerbaijan axisthat just overwhelmed Armenia?

18 November 2020
The EurAsian Times
"The shift towards a more assertive policy coincides with [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s alliance with the ultranationalist MHP [Nationalist Movement Party] since 2015 and the strengthening of his rule after the failed coup in 2016,” said Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.