Press

Britain takes a step back from Europe

15 October 2012
International Herald Tribune
"This is the opening shot in a long and controversial negotiation over which European police and judicial co-operation Britain wants to stay in, and which it is allowed to stay in," said Hugo Brady, of the CER.

Viewpoints: Experts comment on EU's Nobel award

12 October 2012
BBC News
Charles Grant: The EU merits the peace prize. Its role in history is unique and positive, and much more important than the inability of the current bunch of leaders to resolve the eurozone's travails. One only has to travel to Asia to understand the EU's value.

Nobel Peace Prize: And the winner is Europe!

Simon Tilford
12 October 2012
Marketplace
Simon Tilford, of the Centre for European Reform, says that's exactly why they're giving the EU the Nobel Prize for Peace. "The region is in crisis," he says, "it's very difficult to see a way out of it because of political differences between the member-states."

Nobel peace prize leads EU to question its raison d'être

12 October 2012
The Guardian
Charles Grant director of the CER, initially laughed off the award but then decided it was a significant moment."My first reaction was to think it was a joke," he said. "But the more I thought about it the more I realised that these Nobel guys were seeing the broad sweep of history that some of us."

European Union awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Philip Whyte
12 October 2012
Channel 4 News
Philip Whyte of the CER, said the timing of the award could be seen as "ironic". Many EU countries have committed to austerity measures and stringent loan agreements, which they have very little power to resist and the terms of the eurozone bailout agreements could be seen as "undermining democracy in southern Europe", he said.

EADS-BAE failure shows road to united EU ends in Berlin

11 October 2012
Bloomberg
"The German government, compared to the French and the British governments, is always unco-ordinated," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.

Merger's demise perpetuates Europe's defence bloat

11 October 2012
The Wall Street Journal
"Consolidation is good for European value amid defence cuts," said Charles Grant, director of the CER in London. ..."Ninety-nine per cent of European politicians only see things in terms of their national interests," said Mr. Grant.

Nudging Britain towards the exit: The rise of Tory euroscepticism

11 October 2012
RTE News
Hugo Brady of the CER has conducted a major study of the block opt-out. He argues that while exercising the block opt-out en masse will boost Cameron's eurosceptic credentials, it could leave Britain badly exposed in terms of security, while further alienating key allies. "His claims to British legal exceptionalism are unlikely to convince other EU countries that the block opt-out is anything other than a shallow political manoeuvre," says Brady.

Leaders’ lack of enthusiasm hits BAE-EADS

10 October 2012
Financial Times
"Pushing this deal to a successful conclusion required strategy and vision and none of the three leaders is a strategic thinker," says Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. "BAE and EADS came along at a moment when there was too much else preoccupying them."

Death of BAE-EADS merger kills hope of unified European defence sector

Clara Marina O'Donnell
10 October 2012
The Globe and Mail
"This highlights the real challenges for Europeans in their attempt to create an integrated defence industry and market," said Clara Marina O’Donnell, a research fellow with the CER think tank. "We had three countries with three different approaches to defence that were impossible to reconcile."

Britain rethinks its opposition to a two-tier Europe

08 October 2012
International Herald Tribune
"Ever since it joined, British policy has been based on the imperative of being in the room when important matters are discussed, so that Britain could either stop things happening or shape outcomes that suit Britain," said Charles Grant of the CER.

Eurozone finance ministers launch bailout fund

Simon Tilford
08 October 2012
Voice of America
"It is hard to be optimistic about a region as heavily indebted as Europe, or Western Europe, when the region's economy is [heading] into a very deep slump," said Simon Tilford, of the CER. "So any sort of optimism we see at the moment is likely to prove very short lived."

PM to review freedom of migrant movement

07 October 2012
Financial Times
"Cameron could try to renegotiate the freedom of movement principle but this is a cul-de-sac he should be careful not to go down," said Hugo Brady of the CER. "It would use up all the UK's political capital and this would impinge on the fundamental basis of the single market, which Cameron has said he's in favour of."

My state of the Union

05 October 2012
E!Sharp
President Barroso's team recently asked me to contribute to September's State of the EU speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. I thought the final product was rather good. Sadly, its main message – a purposely confrontational call for a 'federation of nation states' – was obscured on the...

Opting out of the EU - The guns of war

05 October 2012
The Economist
Hugo Brady of the CER, believes Mr Cameron underestimates the risk to national security and influence. But Britain has recognised expertise in criminal justice; it is full of people from other EU countries; and it has an enormous DNA database, as well as the best links with America.

Après Merkozy

03 October 2012
The International Herald Tribune
Before becoming president of France, François Hollande did not appear to take much interest in the European Union.

Enders seeks to overcome Berlin wall of resistance to reach BAE

02 October 2012
Bloomberg Business Week
"Hopefully Merkel can see the wider European interest in this," said Charles Grant, director of the London-based CER. "I don't see why the Germans are so reticent, because they’ve always been upset about the French domination or the French leadership at EADS."

EU justice opt-out seen as security risk

30 September 2012
Financial Times
A report by the CER, which will be published this week, suggests that Conservative attempts to repatriate powers from Brussels and then opt back into a select number may backfire if it means the UK loses sway over immigration, crime and policing issues – the fastest-growing area of EU law.

Catalans see pain in Spain as chance for independence

Simon Tilford
29 September 2012
The Times
"The Spanish Government can do very little to address this crisis," said Simon Tilford of the CER. "It cannot pump liquidity into the markets as the UK has done. It has to attempt to meet very high levels of fiscal austerity and its economic reforms are very unpopular. The Government is most definitely not going to be in a position to satisfy the Catalans. It is a highly combustible situation."

EU anti-trust review of BAE-EADS deal may face legal limit

Clara Marina O'Donnell
26 September 2012
Bloomberg Business Week
EU regulators, usually responsible for approving Europe-wide takeovers and enforcing the right to do business across the bloc, have been careful about any involvement in the defence industry because of the legal exemption, said Clara Marina O’Donnell, an analyst at the London-based CER.