Single market, competition & trade
Europe has produced tech champions: Here is what they can teach us
27 May 2026
Despite the gloom about its place in the digital economy, Europe has produced tech leaders.
China shock 2.0: The cost of Germany's complacency
20 May 2026
Germany is ground zero of the second China shock, but Berlin is not fighting back, even as the shock erodes the country’s engineering sectors that are vital to its economic security.
One year liberation day: The delusion of transatlantic economic divorce
07 April 2026
A year after Liberation Day, Washington and Brussels are still fighting each other – not China.
WTO reform after Yaoundé: What next for the multilateral trade order?
02 April 2026
The failure of the WTO’s ‘reform ministerial’ deepens the strain on the global trade system. But it also points to a possible path for future co-operation among coalitions of the willing.
The impact of Brexit on immigration to the UK
09 March 2026
A new analysis finds that Brexit raised the number of foreign-born workers in the UK by about 200,000, but resulted in a more dramatic shift in the countries of origin.
Europe's door to Chinese tech investment is still ajar
04 March 2026
Europe has learned to block Chinese acquisitions of strategic assets. Chinese factories in Europe now pose harder economic security challenges.
The Mercosur deal tests Europe's geoeconomic ambition
19 February 2026
The struggle to ratify the deal exposes a weakness in Europe's geoeconomic agenda.
Europe’s future: Grounds for hope? - Annual report 2025
11 February 2026
The CER's annual report features an essay which analyses the many problems the EU faces, but concludes that it is not doomed.
The Ukraine Reparations Loan: How to fix Europe's financial plumbing
18 December 2025
As US support for Ukraine vanishes, Europe must overcome Belgian opposition and improvise fiscally to provide Kyiv with €210 billion.
Europe's clean tech industry between Trump's policies and Chinese pressure
09 December 2025
The EU needs a coherent clean tech strategy to fend off the US industrial & trade policy shock & Chinese market pressure.
Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security
08 December 2025
The European Competitiveness Fund could be a powerful tool to improve the EU's economic security. But the proposal needs reform to avoid pitting security and growth against each other.
Three hard lessons for European trade
10 November 2025
Global trade policy is now dominated by great power politics, putting Europe under pressure. The EU will have to accommodate the US, confront China and derisk from both.
How buy-European rules can help save Europe's car industry
23 October 2025
Europe's car industry faces an acute demand shock from Chinese overcapacity & US tariffs. Instead of bailouts & regulatory rollbacks, member-states should co-ordinate buy-European EV subsidies & revive internal demand.
A reform agenda for the single market
16 October 2025
Last year, the Draghi report laid bare the need for reform to drive growth. Practical steps on energy, services, competition, finance and simplification can operationalise this agenda into meaningful change.
Making the EU's digital regulatory reset count: Four recommendations
02 September 2025
The EU digital rulebook has grown rapidly in recent years, becoming cumbersome and sometimes hampering trade. The forthcoming digital regulatory package is an opportunity to simplify the rules.
In defence of a bad deal
07 August 2025
The EU-US deal will hurt their economies, raise tariffs and weaken the global legal order. But despite it all, the EU was right to accept.
In transatlantic trade talks, the EU must keep digital policy off the table
18 July 2025
The UK has shifted some of its digital policies to appease the US president. But Brussels should adjust its tech agenda to boost its own competitiveness – not to cave in to Donald Trump.
Reconciling UK migration policy with the energy transition
18 June 2025
Many foreign workers that are needed to deliver the British government's net zero mission will not meet its higher salary and skills thresholds for visas.
The case for using the Anti-Coercion Instrument against Russia
05 June 2025
The EU sanctions regime against Russia is threatened by a Hungarian veto. The Anti-Coercion Instrument would allow the EU to bypass Budapest.
A perfect storm: Britain's trade malaise, weak growth and a new geopolitical moment
21 May 2025
The UK is facing its most severe trade challenge in decades – and at the worst possible time.