Press

Economist Simon Tilford at the CER said the cumulative impact of several years of predicted weak growth "will be considerable over the next decade, 15 years," especially in physical infrastructure and education. "What I fear is that the cuts will be made in the wrong places," he said, and hurt "many of the things that make Europe a good place to do business and have a high standard of living."

But Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform says Europe's stress tests are ignoring one scenario that seems very real "the ability of the banks to cope with a sizable restructuring slash default in Greece and/or other eurozone member states". He says national defaults remains likely, but that isn't being tested.

"It doesn't test the banks for what investors are fearful of," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London. "Stress tests are the way to go, but of course the tests have to be tough enough.... I don't think these tests are of particularly enormous value."

In Europe, argues Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think tank, many let others foot the bill for their time off. For example by claiming, in the name of social justice, early retirement for which they have not paid contributions. It's absurd, he says. In the long run, Tilford continues, the European model of exchanging money for leisure time is in jeopardy. ... If Europeans succeed in growing their productivity, concludes Tilford, they can continue cultivating their love of leisure.

Hugo Brady, of the Centre for European Reform, said: "Obama was always overblown as a symbol because US foreign policy interests tend not to change. The US does not understand the need for everyone to be around the table at the EU, which they find as frustrating as a mini-UN where people want to talk about the good things they have done."

An interesting article by Tomas Valasek at the Centre for European Reform, a London think tank, looks at the pros and cons of Russia joining NATO, or at least changing its relationship with the alliance. He was one of a bunch of western security policy specialists invited by their Russian counterparts to discuss the issue. As he notes, the atmospherics have clearly changed in recent months. ... Another suggestion examined by Mr Valasek is that NATO and Russia should 'demilitarise' their relationship.

According to the Centre for European Reform, a pro-EU think tank, around 80 per cent of the EU's foreign policy failures are due to the inability of larger member states to arrive at a common position.... But Charles Grant, the CER's director, says creating a more effective institution to replace the confusing way foreign policy was split between the rotating presidency, the council of ministers and the commission, is overdue.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, complained: "On many of the world's big security problems, the EU is close to irrelevant."

Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform in London said the commission plan "assumes that all the imbalances can be addressed by the deficit countries." Germany must play a role too in stimulating its consumption, Mr Tilford said. "Any system of governing the eurozone that ignores the structural problems that we see in the surplus countries is doomed to fail... Nobody wants to weaken any countries' export performance," he said.