Press
The EU counts its crises as problems mount
03 June 2018
The Daily Times
“In Spain, it’s a localised issue about corruption, but Italy is obviously very serious,” said John Springford of the London-based Centre for European Reform (CER) think-tank. “It is too big to fail in terms of the eurozone, and too big to save.”
Trump's steel tariffs places the UK in a bind
02 June 2018
Daily Mirror
Trump has slapped new import taxes on European, Canadian and Mexican aluminium and steel, potentially kick starting a global trade war.
Liam Fox urges Brussels to avoid US trade war
01 June 2018
The Times
Sam Lowe, a trade expert from the Centre for European Reform, said the UK was playing a double game on EU retaliation. “In public, Britain does not want to be too critical of Donald Trump, not least because of Brexit. However, the UK is hiding behind the EU since it needs its muscle to prevent the US action going on without end. I think the UK will say it wants to curb the measures, then fall back in line if they come into place.”
Minister's fury as Trump sparks global trade war: Fox threatens to retaliate over 'absurd' tariffs on steel as Brussels joins the fightback
01 June 2018
Daily Mail
Trade expert Sam Lowe from the Centre for European Reform told The Times the UK is playing two games with the EU. He says the government doesn't want to appear too critical of Trump in light of Brexit but the UK is still hiding behind the bloc in the hope of curbing the measures.
Brexit Bulletin: A bad trade-off?
01 June 2018
Bloomerg
Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, offered a snap judgment: “I totally don’t get it.”
How will power swap in Italy and Spain change EU balance?
01 June 2018
EU Observer
"Spain is not going to be as problematic. Sanchez will try to show he can be a leader," said Camino Mortera-Martinez from the Centre for European Reform think-tank. She pointed out that the new Spanish leader saw himself as a caretaker prime minister, whose priorities will be to repeal some of Rajoy's laws on freedom of expression and social rights, and to enable dialogue with Catalonia.
Sky News: Trump tariffs
01 June 2018
Sam Lowe a reasearch fellow at the Centre for European Reform, spoke to Sky News about Trumps and tariffs saying that the UK is in a bind.
Briten wollen wohl einen langsameren Brexit
31 May 2018
Handelsblatt
„Die Übergangsperiode ist nicht lang genug“, sagt Sam Lowe vom Thinktank Centre for European Reform. Großbritannien werde Ende 2020 immer noch nicht bereit sein für den Brexit. Im besten Fall könnten beide Seiten bis dahin ein neues Handelsabkommen aushandeln. Die Umsetzung könne dann aber nicht über Nacht erfolgen, sondern erfordere eine weitere Übergangszeit.
Mutual unrecognition
31 May 2018
Financial Times
The EU may have once thought about including financial services in trade deals but won't do for the Brits. It's time for the UK to get real give hopes on "mutual recognition", writes Samuel Lowe at the Centre for European Reform: "Behind closed doors, member-state representatives say that comprehensive mutual recognition is not something an FTA can allow in and of itself. It would also require the EU to change many of its laws, which only provide certain rights to financial institutions incorporated within the territories of member-states of the EU and the European Economic Area. In itself, this would not be an impossible hurdle to clear, but it would require the will to offer mutual recognition in the first place, which is currently absent on the continent."
Italian crisis felt in Spain and wider EU
30 May 2018
EU Observer
In Rome, the EU is dealing with eurosceptic forces. "This will not be the case whatever happens in Spain," pointed out Camino Mortera-Martinez from the Centre for European Reform think-tank. Mortera-Martinez noted that the main cause of instability in Spain remained the Catalonia crisis and that market uncertainties could end up playing into Rajoy's hands by making Spanish MPs and people wary of creating even more volatility.
The first Swiss lesson for Brexit Britain: Negotiations never end
30 May 2018
Prospect
Like Switzerland we will always be arguing over something or other with the superpower on our doorstep.
Inside the headquarters of Britain's anti-Brexit brigade
30 May 2018
The New Statesman
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, is sympathetic to the people’s vote campaigners, but he sees little chance of any of the above happening and gives them just a “1 or 2 per cent chance” of stopping Brexit. He concedes that a dramatic shift in public opinion – to, say, 60-40 against leaving the EU – could change the dynamics, but cannot foresee such a change. He fears that too many of the campaigners are “naively optimistic” London-based members of the middle-class liberal elite who are simply preaching to the converted.
If Brussels to play hardball with Italy, it will be shooting itself in the foot
29 May 2018
The Telegraph
Italy is heading towards new elections. This weekend, the nationalist League and the populist Five Star Movement seemed on the verge forming a government.
The EU should accept customs union and single market for goods
25 May 2018
Financial Times
With Brexit talks going through one of its rougher patches (and it will no doubt get worse before next month’s European Council), observers may want to keep their eyes on the horizon to avoid getting bogged down in short-term diversions. And what is emerging out of the distant haze is that the UK may end up seeking a long-term relationship with the EU based on a customs union and accepting single market rules and jurisdiction for the production and trade in fish, agricultural and industrial goods but not services. Over the past few months, the logic of such a model has been outlined here and in briefings by the Centre for European Reform.
Theresa May's Irish stew
24 May 2018
The Economist
Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, says that even a temporary sojourn in the customs union and parts of the single market without maintaining the free movement of people is seen in Brussels as cherry-picking.
Brexit: How did HMRC get to a £20bn customs cost?
24 May 2018
BBC News
"Beyond the price of the certificate itself you also need to be absolutely certain the product you are exporting actually meets the criteria set out in any given trade agreement," says Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform. "Sometimes proving origin is easy, but sometimes it is not and doing so requires paying for specialist help, which doesn't come cheap."
Could Britain collaborate with Australia on a Galileo alternative?
24 May 2018
Space News
Sophia Besch, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform here, says that, by aiming to solidify the UK’s place at the forefront of European space developments, the UK Defence Space Strategy will “help to make the case to the EU that letting Brexit get in the way of cooperation would be a loss for both sides.”
Italy's new government will challenge the EU at its heart
23 May 2018
The New York Times
“The new Italian government will give Germany every excuse not to do what Macron would like and it will destabilize the markets,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institution. “It will increase the risk of another eurozone banking crisis, not reduce it.”
CER podcast: NATO and the transatlantic defence relationship
23 May 2018
Recorded at the Daimler US-European Forum: Sophia Besch talks to Constanze Stelzenmüller and Camille Grand about changes in the relationship between the US and its European NATO allies.
How Britain’s departure from the EU stretches to mid-2020s
23 May 2018
Financial Times
“Everybody knows the transition [until the end of 2020] will not be long enough to both negotiate and implement the future trade agreement,” said Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform.