Press
EU half-awakening
04 March 2022
Financial Times
The EU’s recent leaps on common defence and sanctions against Russia are significant and have upended the bloc’s relationship with Moscow, with a phase of protracted “cold” confrontation coming up. However, the Centre for European Reform lays out why there are several reasons to be wary about claims of a “geopolitical awakening”.
The week where decades happened: How the west finally woke up to Putin
04 March 2022
The Guardian
Sophia Besch, from the Centre for European Reform, points out Scholz himself insisted he had not acted due to pressure from allies, but due to Germany changing its view of the threat posed by Putin. “The truth is the world did not change last Thursday,” she said.
Den store hammer
04 March 2022
Weekendavisen
Ian Bond, udenrigspolitisk direktør i London-tænketanken Center for European Reform, tvivler på det.»Spørgsmålet er, om Putin overhovedet er modtagelig for pres. Alle informationer, der siver ud fra Kreml, tyder på, at han kun tager imod råd fra en meget snæver kreds. Og de er ikke økonomer, men nationalistiske hardlinere, der mener, at Vesten er en evig trussel mod Rusland.
The EU's geopolitical awakening?
03 March 2022
UK in a changing Europe
The EU’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took many observers by surprise. For once, the Union exceeded expectations, and by a large margin.
The EU is coming to Ukraine’s aid in several ways, but it won’t give President Zelensky what he really wants
02 March 2022
iNews
“The main problem is that Ukraine is a de facto occupied country,” says Camino Mortera, who heads the Brussels office of the Centre for European Reform, a think tank. “There are parts of Ukraine which are, officially or unofficially, under the control of another country.” This was also a headache in 2001, when Cyprus joined the EU, even though it was – and still is – partially occupied by Turkey.
Quotation of the day: As war grinds into 5th day, Kremlin starts hitting harder
01 March 2022
The New York Times
“A lot depends on how brutal the Russians are prepared to be.”
Ian Bond, foreign policy director for the Centre for European Reform, who said that images of violence against Ukrainians may not be politically successful for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Ian Bond, foreign policy director for the Centre for European Reform, who said that images of violence against Ukrainians may not be politically successful for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
TRT World: Moscow cracks down on protestors as economic sanctions hit
01 March 2022
The first round of ceasefire talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials ended with no agreements. Another round could happen within days. Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the CER, joined us from London to discuss further on the Ukraine crisis.
After a fumbled start, Russian forces hit harder in Ukraine
28 February 2022
The New York Times
“A lot depends on how brutal the Russians are prepared to be,” said Ian Bond, foreign policy director for the Centre for European Reform. “They can’t censor everything, so brutalizing Ukrainians for whom many Russians feel a connection may not be politically successful for Putin.’’
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has left a hole in the global energy market
28 February 2022
Grist
Elisabetta Cornago, a senior research fellow at the CER in Brussels, Belgium, argues that for Europe, the crisis may ultimately accelerate the transition to clean energy. The EU and the UK have been heavily reliant on Russian gas for decades, making them politically vulnerable to interference from President Vladimir Putin. “It’s kind of a wake-up call for Europe,” Cornago said.
Germany's Scholz announces 100bn euros for German army
27 February 2022
RTL Today
The significance of this move was highlighted by Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. He wrote that "Scholz just dismantled almost every SPD policy towards Russia over the past 3 decades in one speech". Scholz represents the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
BBC World News: Russian invasion of Ukraine
27 February 2022
Ian Bond spoke to BBC World News on EU sanctions and the big step of paying for lethal equipment to Ukraine and sanctions on Russian banks via SWIFT.
Putin and the West: From curiosity to cataclysm
26 February 2022
France 24
"Cut off from West, Russia has no choice but to become junior partner of China," argued Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform."Beijing is ambivalent on invasion - it won't criticise Russia in public and blames the US - but values stability and territorial integrity."
How two big new EU laws will try to rein in Big Tech
26 February 2022
The Journal
“It’s not really directly relevant what the court decides because few consumers use comparison shopping services any more”, says Zach Meyers of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
BBC World News: Russia vetoes UN resolution deploring invasion of Ukraine
26 February 2022
Zach Meyers spoke to BBC World News and explained that UK/US were prepared to cut off Russian banks from USD/GBP clearing, devastating Russia's ability to trade internationally - but EU sanctions still allow much trade with Russia.
Newstalk: Reaction on the Russian invasion of Ukraine
25 February 2022
Sobering analysis from Ian Bond on why we have to be honest about the prospects for a Ukrainian insurgency. "The Russians have a record of extraordinary brutality in suppressing insurgencies in Chechnya & Syria - bombing everything that moves and intimidating."
iNews 24: EU agrees to freeze assets linked to Putin
25 February 2022
Camino Mortera-Martinez says the EU is preparing to welcome an influx of refugees from Ukraine. She emphasises that Poland not asking for COVID passports or even ID cards shows this crisis is truly unprecedented
With the Ukraine invasion, NATO is suddenly vulnerable
24 February 2022
The New York Times
“This changes everything for NATO,’’ said Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who heads foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform. “Russia’s aim is to extinguish Ukraine as a sovereign country in Europe. Now we need to worry about everything, and we need to get serious again.’’
Sky News: President of Ukraine says the country will remove sanctions from all citizens who are "ready to defend our state with weapons in their hands"
24 February 2022
Ian Bond says the layout of Russian forces and attacks across Ukraine show Putin's plan to control the whole country.
India Today: Russia invades Ukraine
24 February 2022
Ian Bond says that anyone who has watched Putin's speeches this week can see he's acting on a lot of emotion: both on hatred towards the West and delusion about what kind of country Ukraine is.
La guerra de Putin: lo idiotas que fuimos
24 February 2022
El Periodico
Lo mejor que nos puede pasar es que los ucranios se defiendan y haya los menores muertos posibles, pero la toma de Kiev y la derrota del gobierno pro-europeo de Zelensky es inevitable.