Press

Brexit has already cost £11.5billion in trade, Centre for European Reform think tank estimates

13 April 2021
Evening Standard
The Centre for European Reform estimated that quitting the single market and customs union at the end of December 2020 had cut trade in goods by £3.5 billion, or five per cent, by February.It stressed that this was on top of an £8 billion, or ten per cent, hit to trade between the June 2016 Brexit referendum and leaving the single market at the end of 2020, a period which saw a sharp fall in the value of the Pound.

Bloomberg TV: Merkel's succession in disarray as party splits over nominee

Christian Odendahl
13 April 2021
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at th CER talked to Bloomberg TV about the Merkel succession, and how German politics might change in the coming years.

US signals support for Ukraine and will add troops in Germany

13 April 2021
The New York Times
Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who is head of foreign policy for the Centre for European Reform, said that a war was unlikely now but could come this summer. He wrote in a briefing paper that Russian analysts were suggesting that the ground in eastern Ukraine would be too wet for armor for another month, and that the helicopters and aircraft needed for an airborne assault were still absent from Crimea — signs that no attack is imminent.

Times Radio: Russian pressure in eastern Ukraine

13 April 2021
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform spoke with Carole Walker and outlined three possible motives behind the increased Russian pressure in eastern Ukraine (from 1:50).

El traspié en Ankara pone contra las cuerdas a Michel

Camino Mortera-Martinez
11 April 2021
El Pais
Camino Mortera-Martínez, investigadora del Centre for European Reform, opina que el incidente es “el síntoma de una enfermedad más grave”, que es el “tipo de liderazgo que tenemos en la UE”. “Una presidencia será tan importante como la persona que esté al frente decida. Puede ser muy buena, irrelevante o mala”, sostiene la analista, que añade: “Dudo de que vaya a dimitir, pero también de que vayan a renovarlo el próximo año”.

CER podcast: Europe needs a new approach to the Sahel

Katherine Pye, Ian Bond, Abdoul Salam Bello
09 April 2021
Ian Bond discussed the situation in the Sahel region of Africa with Abdoul Salam Bello and Katherine Pye.

Labour attacks ‘arrogant’ Tory government over EU trade deal effects

07 April 2021
Financial Times
John Springford of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said that non-tariff barriers caused by the TCA that made trade with Europe relatively harder, would affect both goods and services.  “For example, the UK shellfish industry finds it much harder to export to the EU, as we’ve seen. Its costs go up, its market shrinks and some of its workers and capital shift over time out of fishing and into less productive, lower-paid economic activity,” he explained.

Por qué Europa debe gastar a lo grande, como está haciendo Biden

Christian Odendahl, John Springford
05 April 2021
ESglobal
La magnitud del plan de gasto del presidente Joe Biden significa que la economía estadounidense va a recuperarse mucho más rápido que la europea. Sin embargo, en muchos aspectos, es la economía de Europa la que necesita más estímulos.

What if Europe's fiscal largesse were as generous as America's?

Christian Odendahl, John Springford
03 April 2021
The Economist
While in America gross fixed capital formation grew by just under 1% a year in 2016-20, in Europe it shrank, according to an analysis by Christian Odendahl and John Springford of the Centre for European Reform.

El Brexit agrava la crisis desatada por la pandemia en el Reino Unido

02 April 2021
El Pais
La Comisión Europea estimó que el coste previo a la salida para el Reino Unido fue de entre el 1,7% y el 2,9% del PIB y, según un informe del gabinete de estrategia Centre for European Reform (CER), las exportaciones se redujeron un 10% en el agitado periodo comprendido entre el referéndum de 2016 y el final del periodo de transición, en diciembre de 2020. 

TRT World: Russia-NATO tensions heat up

02 April 2021
Last week, NATO foreign ministers gathered in Brussels for the first time in over a year. The in-person summit featured Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg saying Moscow's 'pattern of repressive behaviour at home and aggressive behaviour abroad' required immediate, collective action. From Crimea to cyberattacks, diplomatic pressure seems to have achieved...

Brexit in numbers

01 April 2021
Financial Times
John Springford at the Centre for European Reform has done some fascinating modelling showing that UK trade was £16bn in January lower than a “synthetic” UK that remained in the single market and customs union. (This after Brexit had already led to a 10 per cent reduction in total UK goods trade since the referendum in 2016 to the end of last year).

Conference on Future of Europe must restore sense of purpose to EU post-Brexit, says former UK MEP

Christian Odendahl, John Springford
30 March 2021
The Parliament Magazine
Christian Odendahl, chief economist and John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, say the scale of US President Joe Biden’s spending plans means the US economy will recover much faster than Europe’s.They said, “There are two reasons why the economic recovery in Europe will be slower. First, the rollout of vaccines in Europe is roughly six weeks behind the US. As of late March, the EU had administered 13 doses per 100 people, according to the ‘Our World In Data’ website. The US passed that mark on February 10.” 

Joe Biden economic recovery puts Brussels to shame – Eurozone warning

Christian Odendahl
29 March 2021
Express
Chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, Christian Odendhal argued the Brussels bloc could learn some lessons from the US model.He wrote: "In some ways, Europe is more in need of stimulus than the US, yet on current plans, its governments will do far less than the Biden administration."

Merkel’s party is polls apart from German electorate after vaccine botch

Christian Odendahl
28 March 2021
The Telegraph
“The CDU never really ran on any ideas, it ran on the status quo and good management,” says Christian Odendahl, Centre for European Reform chief economist. “This is why this combination of the pandemic mismanagement and the PPE scandal is so terrible for the CDU… If you can’t manage this crisis well, then what’s the point of you?”

Wake-up call for Germany as Chinese affair sours

28 March 2021
The Sunday Times
According to Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, the row coincides with recent signs of a cooling of European attitudes towards China. “Even a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine the EU imposing sanctions on China,” he said.

Statement by European research institute directors

25 March 2021
Charles Grant is among many directors of European research institutions to express concern that Chinese sanctions against institutions and individuals in Europe will damage mutual understanding.

The role of differentiation in EU foreign, security and defence policy co-operation with neighbouring countries

Ian Bond, Luigi Scazzieri, Senem Aydın-Düzgit
25 March 2021
EUIDEA
The EU extensively practices differentiation in its foreign, security and defence policy, both internally and externally towards its neighbours.

CER podcast: Britain after the pandemic

John Springford, Jonathan Portes
25 March 2021
John Springford discussed the links between pre-COVID austerity and the UK's poor pandemic outcomes with Jonathan Portes.

Brexit has already been a disaster for British trade

23 March 2021
Encompass
No one has much interest in talking about Brexit in the UK at the moment. The pandemic means that voters have more important things on their mind.