Press
Can Keir Starmer reset Britain’s Brexit deal?
19 September 2023
Financial Times
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, warned that the EU side had “many other priorities” and any initiative from a Labour government would require careful framing and a clear “offer”. “Before he takes office Starmer needs to work out what he wants to change in the Brexit settlement, and then forewarn EU leaders of what they should expect from Labour,” he added.
The newfound influence of the UK’s competition watchdog
19 September 2023
Financial Times
Zach Meyers, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, says there is “global uncertainty” now in the merger space. “I’m not sure the CMA is really more unpredictable than others, but [due to the appeals system] it has bigger teeth,” he says. “It throws up the question as to whether the current system is viable, given the geopolitical blocs that are forming,” says a seasoned Brussels lobbyist, referring to the outsized influence of US, EU, UK and Chinese regulators.
Building his profile on global stage, UK opposition leader meets Macron
19 September 2023
The New York Times
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute, said Mr Starmer knew that after years of tension over Brexit, an incoming Labour government’s credibility with the European Union could be quite low.
Mario Draghi’s back — With a lot of work to do
18 September 2023
Bloomberg
A paper co-authored by Sander Tordoir, economist at the Centre for European Reform, set out earlier this year why Germany needs a new growth model — including more infrastructure spending, higher wages and filling digitalization gaps.
Keir Starmer warned of tough choice over revisiting Brexit
18 September 2023
The Evening Standard
John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, added: “‘Some bolt-ons to the EU-UK trade deal would help some sectors, like agriculture. “But they wouldn’t change the problem: a free trade agreement is much less effective than a single market and customs union. Starmer says he wants a closer EU relationship to improve growth, but his red lines on the EU make it very hard to achieve that.”
Keir Starmer wants to rewrite the Brexit deal? Good – and he shouldn’t hold back
18 September 2023
The Guardian
According to one estimate from the Centre for European Reform, the British economy is more than 5% smaller than it would have been if Brexit hadn’t happened.
Italy toughens asylum laws amid surge in migrant arrivals
18 September 2023
Voice of America
The plan is unlikely to have a big effect, said Camino Mortera-Martinez of the Centre for European Reform. “When it comes to substantive points and content of things that the Commission can do — or the European Union even can do — about this problem, there is absolutely nothing new. We see von der Leyen’s 10-point plan that she offered Italy, and we see the same things that we've been seeing for the past 10 years,” Mortera-Martinez told VOA.
Channel 4 News: Keir Starmer said he would boost growth by rewriting the Brexit deal
18 September 2023
"Will Starmer try and go beyond his red lines? The impression I get from talking to people in the Labour leadership is they know they've got to go further ...
Welcome to Doppelgänger Britain – a world without Brexit
16 September 2023
The New Statesman
The economist John Springford on how he modelled what the UK would look like had it voted Remain.
The EU still needs to build its de-risking toolkit
14 September 2023
Encompass
‘De-risking’ the EU’s economic ties with China took centre stage in this week’s state of the union speech by European Commission President von der Leyen.
Italy mulls quitting China's 'Belt and Road' but fears offending Beijing
14 September 2023
Voice of America
There are also geopolitical reasons for Italy rethinking its membership in China's BRI, said Luigi Scazzieri, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform."There's come to be a certain diplomatic stigma attached to it, partly because the whole of the West is rethinking its relationship with China," Scazzieri told VOA.
La «dame de fer» de Bruxelles entre deux destins
13 September 2023
Le Temps
«Son principal atout est son engagement en faveur des principes du marché libre, qui l’a parfois amenée à s’opposer à des intérêts particuliers. Elle a également réussi à convaincre de nombreuses personnes que la Direction générale de la concurrence n’avait pas pour seul objectif d’attaquer les entreprises américaines, mais qu’elle appliquerait la politique de concurrence sans crainte ni faveur, y compris lorsque des entreprises européennes sont visées», analyse Zach Meyers, chercheur en politique de la concurrence au Centre for European Reform.
Has the European Central Bank become too powerful?
13 September 2023
The Economist
Officials must combine a monetary-policy justification with adherence to the eu’s fiscal rules and the need for sustainable debt. As such, “ECB lawyers have to be among the most innovative in the world,” says Sander Tordoir of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
CER Podcast: Ukraine's road to EU membership
13 September 2023
Ian Bond and Hennadiy Maksak discuss Ukraine's road to EU membership.
EU subsidy race is on – and Germany is winning it
12 September 2023
EurActiv
“The problem here is that the relaxed state aid rules benefit countries like Germany that have low public debt and can afford to lavish subsidies,” Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), a think-tank, told Euractiv.
One year on, Trussonomics is still inflicting damage
09 September 2023
The Sunday Times
John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, was quick out of the blocks to reveal that on his “doppelganger” calculations, the UK economy was still 5 per cent smaller than it would have been by the second quarter of 2022, compared with 5.5 per cent on his previous calculation.
G20: A chance for Europe to shape the global order
09 September 2023
Financial Times
I caught up this week with Charles Grant, the director of Centre for European Reform, for the first time since I commissioned him to write op-eds for the FT during the eurozone debt crisis. Bear in mind, he notes, that while just about everyone in the EU is in favour of multilateralism, given the war in Ukraine and the focus on EU enlargement it is not top of people’s minds.
Georgia's foreign policy and its alignment with the EU CSFP
07 September 2023
The Georgian Institute of Politics
The risks of strengthening ties with Russia in the midst of its war of aggression against Ukraine should be obvious.
Italy’s recovery funds saga a test for EU fiscal integration
07 September 2023
EurActiv
This could also erode the future will of ‘frugal’ countries to pool resources or issue EU debt, said economist Sander Tordoir from the Centre for European Reform, who prompted the European Commission to be more open about the RRF pitfalls.“The Commission and member-states have neglected to build genuine consensus beforehand on what would constitute big-picture political success for the RRF,” he told EURACTIV, warning of a backlash.
Britain can recover from the self-harm of Brexit. Today’s return to the EU’s Horizon project shows how
07 September 2023
The Guardian
The Centre for European Reform estimated that at the end of 2021, the British economy was 5% smaller than it would have been had Britain not left.