Research
Refugee crisis: Hope turns to despair as Lesbos camp becomes open-air prison
25 March 2016
The Independent
“Greece has effectively been asked to build an asylum system in two weeks,” says Camino Mortera, a research fellow for the Centre for European Reform and a specialist in EU law. “The EU claims there won’t be returns en masse but if you are not able to process people in a regulated fashion, how else are they going to deal with this?”
Brexit supporters and Scottish independence advocates believe in a 'false freedom', says David Mundell
22 March 2016
The Independent
In a speech at the CER he will also question how supporters of Scottish independence can be comfortable campaigning for Britain to stay in Europe, suggesting that both the Union and the EU carry similar benefits such as trade and security.“If Scotland had voted to leave the United Kingdom, those who supported that outcome would have argued that we had achieved ‘freedom’ from the UK,” he will say.
Brussels attacks fuel debate over migrants in a fractured Europe
22 March 2016
The New York Times
"In the public eye everything gets connected: the mass abuse in Cologne on New Year’s Eve and the attacks today," said Rem Korteweg, a security analyst at the Centre for European Reform in London, referring to the sexual abuse and robberies in Cologne on New Year’s Eve that were linked to migrants. “However different, in the public mind and for the euroskeptic populace, they’re all the same thing."
EU referendum threatens to expose fissures across Britain
17 March 2016
The New York Times
But as the Centre for European Reform, a research organisation that broadly supports European integration, said in a study last year, "The regions that have most to lose tend to be the most euroskeptic." In the northeast, it said, exports to Continental Europe "are far higher than other regions — yet its residents consistently favour withdrawal."
BBC World News: EU-Turkey migrant deal
17 March 2016
Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow Sophia Besch talks to BBC World News on the EU-Turkey deal negotiations at the European Council summit yesterday.
Doubts grow as EU leaders meet on migrant deal with Turkey
16 March 2016
Voice of America
European Union leaders begin talks Thursday to work out a migrant deal with Turkey... But prospects of finalizing an agreement appear to be fading. Analyst Camino Mortera-Martinez is betting against it. "I think the opposition among member states is growing, and it's going to be very difficult to justify and craft a deal in such a short time frame," says Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow at the CER. Even if a deal is reached, she added, "there are many practical problems in implementing it."
Migrant crisis: EU-Turkey deal on the rocks
15 March 2016
The Telegraph
Camino Mortera-Martinez with the CER, said that legal challenges to the deal were inevitable unless it was substantially revised, or "decaffeinated". "This deal hasn’t been thought through and they are having to think though the implications after having already announced it," she said, "From political and practical point of view there is a lot to resolve in a very short period."
La pregunta es qué obtiene el Reino Unido alejándose de Europa
13 March 2016
La Voz de Galicia
Simon Tilford es subdirector del Centro para la Reforma Europea en Londres. Al reflexionar sobre el referendo de permanencia del Reino Unido en la Unión Europea pone énfasis en la importancia de que el 23 de junio vayan a votar los jóvenes, más favorables a Bruselas.
Mario Draghi liebäugelt mit dem nächsten Tabu-Bruch
13 March 2016
Die Welt
Der deutsche Ökonom Christian Odendahl wiederum will nicht den Staaten das Geld geben, sondern den Geschäftsbanken. Die EZB soll deren Schuldverschreibungen aufkaufen.
ABC Rear Vision: Brexit and the referendum on EU membership
13 March 2016
Ian Bond talks to with Annabelle Quince and Keri Phillips of ABC Rear Vision about Brexit and the referendum on EU membership.
A deal with Turkey to stanch the flow of refugees may be the European Union's last hope to find a solution
12 March 2016
The Economist
Many are shocked that the EU has made such a lavish offer when Mr Erdogan has nothing but contempt for Europe's values and is undermining the independence of Turkey's courts and media. Some EU members, particularly those with strong right-wing parties, regard visa-free travel as "very sensitive and problematic", says Camino Mortera-Martinez of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.
CER podcast: Emergency EU Turkey summit
09 March 2016
Sophia Besch talks to the CER's JHA expert Camino Mortera-Martinez about the details of this week's migration summit deal and broader implications for the sustainability of Schengen.
Why Draghi's Words May Matter Too If ECB Fires Stimulus Salvo
08 March 2016
Bloomberg Business
Christian Odendahl of the CER said, “what markets need to know is that the ECB is willing to let inflation overshoot for a while until the recovery is completed, before it starts normalizing rates. More of the same in terms of forward guidance is not going to achieve that.”
Ukraine er taget som gidsel af hollandske EU-skeptikere
06 March 2016
Berlinske
Folkeafstemningen er kommet i stand, efter at flere end 400.000 skrev under på et ønske om den som led i en kampagne, som det satiriske og EU-skeptiske medie Geenpeil stod bag sidste år. Og den handler i høj grad om den hollandske EU-skepsis, bekræfter Rem Korteweg fra CER. "Det begyndte med, at associeringsaftalen bare var en undskyldning for at få en folkeafstemning, hvor den hollandske offentlighed kunne få en mulighed for at udtrykke sin utilfredshed og frustration over EU.
In, out, find a fib to shout
05 March 2016
The Economist
But John Springford of the CER, a think-tank, points out that, in trade negotiations, individual countries, not the EU as a whole, decide what to accept. Britain’s share of all other EU countries’ exports is only around 8%, he says (our chart, using IMF figures, puts it even lower), and in many individual cases a lot less, leaving it in a weaker bargaining position.
Euranet: Threat of exits from EU
05 March 2016
If Brussels does not agree to pass on to France more sovereignty in border protection or budget policy, the FN is likely to organize a referendum on leaving the EU. This kind of political blackmail may even be effective and Brussels’ influence on member-states is limited, comments Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, an expert of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank devoted to improving the quality of the debate on the EU. (audio in Polish)
EU chief warns economic migrants not to travel to Europe
03 March 2016
Voice of America
The process of making that distinction is burdening resources, said Ian Bond of the London-based Centre for European Reform. "It's the sheer effort of trying to separate the legitimate refugees from those who are just economic migrants, which I think is really overwhelming the resources that Greece and its EU partners have been able to put into the problem at the moment," Bond said.
France 24: Franco-British summit
03 March 2016
Ian Bond speaks to France 24 about David Cameron's visit to France for the UK-France Summit
EU Brexit 2016: Advocates of a free-trading Britain outside the EU face long odds
02 March 2016
International Business Times
"Any agreement would require the assent of the remaining 27 members, some of whom buy more from Britain than they sell to it," wrote the authors, John Springford and Simon Tilford.
EU Facts: What would leaving the EU mean for expats?
02 March 2016
The Telegraph
"The renegotiation may backfire, not least because Spain might demand that British retirees on the costas pay for their own healthcare" says John Springford of the CER. There are some fears that member states, angered by Britain exiting, could try to put pressure on British expats in revenge.