Press
Surge in capital investment drives better than expected Hungary growth
05 December 2017
Financial Times
However, a report released last week by the Centre for European Reform think-tank suggested that “average households have not seen enough of the fruits of economic growth”, with worker compensation growing more slowly than GDP and consumption falling as a share of overall spending.Tuesday’s data highlighted the potential for such trends to continue. Household consumption did rise by a healthy 4.4 per cent year on year in the third quarter, but that paled in comparison with a 20 per cent surge in fixed capital formation.
The case for a slow-motion Brexit
05 December 2017
Prospect
Recent chaos in the negotiations shows that a two-year "implementation period" is entirely unrealistic.
Europe must guide Trump on Iran nuclear deal
05 December 2017
EurActiv
North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test is an unsettling reminder of what happens when there is no agreement in place to moderate the behaviour of a bellicose regime.
'Britain will cave to EU demands' Theresa May to accept Brexit deal on Europe's terms
02 December 2017
The Express
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the talks on the UK’s exit from the EU have made progress on main key issues such as citizens’ right and the Irish border. And Europhile said the European Council may even declare that Britain has made “sufficient progress” when it meets in December. But he warned Theresa May’s troubles were “far from over” and the Prime Minister will eventually be forced to cave into the EU’s demands if she hopes to get anywhere with trade talks. Writing in the Financial Times, the EU expert claims the negotiations are “turning out like accession talks in reverse”. He wrote: “When a country joins the EU, the talks are called 'negotiations' to humour the applicant.
Het is erop of eronder voor een ordentelijke Brexit
01 December 2017
NRC Handelsblad
De stroomversnelling waar de Brexitonderhandeling in beland is, neemt niet weg niet dat de gesprekken moeizaam verliepen. „Het beperkte begrip van Britse politici van hoe de EU werkt, was problematisch”, zegt Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, onderzoeker bij de Londense denktank Centre for European Reform.
Europe holds all the cards in the Brexit talks
01 December 2017
Financial Times
EU negotiators are confident Britain will eventually accept a deal on their terms.
A political fog on eurozone reform — courtesy of Paris and Berlin
30 November 2017
Politico
Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, resonates with the German electorate. “There is no macroeconomic narrative in Germany about the euro crisis,” he said. “It’s all about Germany having to pay for others.”
Europe wanted migrants stopped. Now some are being sold as slaves.
30 November 2017
The New York Times
“The tragic and morally unjustifiable thing about this is that European Union policy is certainly a part of why this is happening,” John Springford, who studies migration at the Centre for European Reform, a research organisation in London. “But whether that will lead to a change in direction, I am doubtful.”
Europe’s mixed economic messages
30 November 2017
Financial Times
Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform examines the Visegrad four (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and finds that, economically speaking, all is not well. He points out that while economic production (gross domestic output) has caught up impressively with western Europe, incomes have converged less. The four countries’ GDP per capita ranges from 64 per cent to 82 per cent of the eurozone average; but labour income is only at 50 per cent to 59 per cent. Consumption growth has also lagged behind GDP growth.
Brexit breakthrough pits diehards against EU strength
29 November 2017
Financial Times
Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform has set out ten predictions for the Brexit talks, including the Irish border will prove the most contentious part of the separation agreement.
Brexiters nowhere to be seen as UK raises white flag over EU divorce bill
29 November 2017
The Guardian
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform, said he believed Britain had little realistic choice but to cave in on money, citizens’ rights and the Irish border if it wanted to get to phase two talks on trade. “It is dressed up as a negotiation, but it’s really been a story of the British taking time to realise that they have got to accept what the EU demands of them,” he said. “The EU is intelligent enough not to pursue this in a humiliating way, but the truth is that we have to accept.”
Brexit cost rises as Britain retreats on divorce demands
29 November 2017
The New York Times
“Although the current focus is on the separation, the next phase of the talks could prove much harder and more acrimonious,” wrote Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, a research institute, in an analysis. “EU negotiators think the British government is deluded about the kind of future relationship it can achieve.”
Ireland urged to trust Theresa May
27 November 2017
The Telegraph
Michel Barnier has given a speech at an EU summit in Estonia. Much of what he said was similar to his address to the Centre for European Reform: Britain must choose between a trade deal with the EU or radically different regulation from it.
Irlandia wykolei Brexit? Szykuje się wielka awantura
27 November 2017
Wiadomosci
Irlandczycy od początku sygnalizowali jak ważna jest to kwestia, ale Brytyjczycy chyba nie docenili wagi tego problemu. Teraz to najważniejsza przeszkoda w tych negocjacjach - mówi w rozmowie z WP Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, analityk Centre for European Reform w Londynie.
CNBC: Brexit divorce bill price won't be most difficult issue to solve
24 November 2017
How the UK government approaches the Irish border will be "much more difficult," Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, told CNBC.
EU reward to Britain for Brexit concessions may prove meager
24 November 2017
The Wall Street Journal
There may be some carve-out allowing Britain not to apply new post-Brexit EU laws, “but only if those bits of legislation have no material impact on the” key rules of the EU single market, said Simon Tilford, deputy director of the Center for European Reform.
Border issue most likely to scupper Brexit deal, warns UK think-tank
24 November 2017
Irish Independent
Charles Grant, of the Centre for European Reform, which Michel Barnier addressed earlier this week, said he believes a deal can be done - if Ireland agrees to language that signals there would be no regulatory divergence between the North and the Republic. France and Germany are among the countries keen to move on to the next phase of the talks dealing with the future relationship, Mr Grant said.
Brexit bulletin: Suspicious minds
24 November 2017
Bloomberg
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, predicted this week that if there’s no breakthrough in December, it will be Ireland, not the financial settlement, that scuppers it.
Britain to face BIGGER issues than EU's demand for HUGE Brexit divorce bill, warns expert
24 November 2017
The Express
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform (CER), said the EU’s demand for a Brexit divorce bill is a small issue in comparison to the Irish border. Speaking to CNBC, Mr Bond said: “I don’t really think at the moment that the exit price is going to be the most difficult thing to solve. I mean, that in a sense is arguing about the price of the carpet.
Michel Barnier knows the real meaning of 'taking back control'
23 November 2017
The Evening Standard
It is ironic that those on the extreme Right who want to leave the EU will thereby demolish the biggest block to Corbyn’s economic policies. It is interesting, too, that the one politician who has a clear idea of the meaning of “take back control” is not British. Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator in the Brexit talks, made this clear at a conference on Monday in Brussels, organised by the Centre for European Reform.