Press
China fury: Beijing unleashes new threat to UK and EU over 'scapegoating' - tensions erupt
15 July 2020
Express
Speaking at a Centre for European Reform webinar, the Chinese ambassador to the UK urged European leaders to cooperate in the global fight against coronavirus. He warned "scapegoating is unhelpful to solving problems" and urged China and Europe to remain "major players" in the COVID-19 fight. He said: "War peace and stability are under great threat. The pandemic has revealed a weak link in global public health government systems.
As Bulgaria and Croatia bid to join the euro, is there life in the currency yet?
15 July 2020
The Telegraph
“Usually when countries join a strong and stable currency they are trying to import macroeconomic stability and import the credibility of bigger countries,” explains Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. He says smaller economies, such as Bulgaria and Croatia, can enjoy more stability, intensify trade links and gain political sway by getting a seat at the euro table.
Post-Brexit border checks to cost businesses £13 billion
14 July 2020
The Times
Sam Lowe, a trade policy expert at the Centre for European Reform, said: “This demonstrates that no matter what happens [by] the end of the year the cost to business of trading with the EU will be notably higher than it is today.”
BBC Newsnight: Frictonless borders in Ireland
14 July 2020
Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the CER told Newsnight, "What we do know is that good exiting Great Britain and going to Northern Ireland there will be customs declarations for products of animal origin and inspections and document checks entering Northern Ireland"
The green tax revolution Europe needs
13 July 2020
Project Syndicate
European policy-makers need to bolster short-term demand while simultaneously accelerating the shift toward carbon neutrality.
EU accused of risking lives in standoff over coronavirus medicines produced in Britain after Brexit
11 July 2020
The Telegraph
Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform think tank, said, “After Brexit, the EU cannot ignore the UK’s role in its medical supply chains and the fact is the EU is still going to import a lot of medicine from the UK.”
EU border carbon adjustment: Proposed models and the state of play
08 July 2020
ONB Schwerpunkt Außenwirtschaft
The EU intends to introduce a border carbon adjustment (BCA) mechanism by the end of 2021.
Europe awaits German fiscal cascade that could be just a trickle
06 July 2020
Bloomberg
“There will be some knock-on effects,” said Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in Berlin. “There’s an argument to be made that spillovers might be lower than they’d otherwise be because the trade links, particularly the service trade links, are limited.”
Europe must take on its own defense responsibilities
03 July 2020
Defence News
As they look at the state of their coronavirus-hit economies and U.S. President Donald Trump’s poor standing in opinion polls, many European leaders may be tempted to put on hold any plans to meet NATO’s target of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense.
EL NUEVO VIEJO GOBIERNO DE POLONIA Y SU VISIÓN DEL FUTURO DE LA UE
01 July 2020
CIDOB
El 13 de octubre del 2019, los polacos optaron por el statu quo en la política europea polaca.
CER podcast: The EU's €750 billion question: How should the COVID-19 recovery fund be spent?
01 July 2020
European Union leaders will meet in Brussels on July 17-18 to discuss plans for a new recovery fund and long-term budget to help Europe bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis.
Germany takes over EU Presidency at challenging time
30 June 2020
Voice of America
“Now, I think, there’s a realization that she wants to have been a chancellor that has made Europe stronger, and so they’re kind of a happy marriage of interests going on between her and Macron,” said John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform research institute in London.
UK farmers win concession on post-Brexit agricultural trade policy
29 June 2020
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said Ms Truss’s decision to set up the commission recognised the awkward political realities of doing a US-UK trade deal as objections from farmers and backbenchers had become increasingly stark in recent months.“It was always going to be difficult for the UK open up its agriculture sector to increased competition from American producers and others,” he said.
Brexit is a test of de-globalization in a world of Covid-19
29 June 2020
The Wall Street Journal
UK firms risk being cut out of EU supply chains, likely squeezing manufacturing output and investment. A fall in services trade, which made up 43% of U.K. exports to the EU in 2019, and the arrival of fewer migrants, will inflict the most damage on the economy, says John Springford, an economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank. The CER sees the value of UK financial services exports to the EU falling almost 60% under a trade deal and transport-service exports dropping 15%.
The EU must be prepared to be critical of China. It can start with Hong Kong’s security law
24 June 2020
Euronews
China’s plan to impose a new security law on Hong Kong shows that Beijing is tightening its grip on the former British colony.
Studio Berlin: Will Germany’s EU Council Presidency move Europe forward?
24 June 2020
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her cabinet today are discussing what to do when Germany takes the helm of the EU Council on July 1.
The UK steers towards a no-deal Brexit in the middle of the pandemic
23 June 2020
Der Spiegel
"Britain is a highly regulated economy, you can't just quickly lower norms," says Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.
After splurging on coronavirus, EU seeks state aid compromise with Britain
22 June 2020
Reuters
Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said the EU could assess whether UK rules, rather then being identical, achieved a similar effect to its own.“The EU would still have the possibility to guard itself by reinserting tariffs in future,” he said.
Johnson invokes Tim Tams as UK growth outlook appears less than sweet
19 June 2020
The Sydney Morning Herald
"The idea is we would still be in 15 years time richer than we are now, but poorer than had we remained in the EU," says Sam Lowe, a trade expert at the Centre for European Reform."There's no economic argument in favour of leaving the EU. And there's just no evidence to suggest free trade agreements can compensate from the fallout from Brexit. They may take the edge off very lightly but they're not going to compensate for the UK having decided to put up barriers to trade with its most important trading partner."
Remember Brexit? It’s still not over
18 June 2020
Vox
“They got stuck on some pretty big and basically political issues,” John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London, told me. “In order to unstick it, it’s going to require political intervention on both sides. That’s why nothing much has happened — and coronavirus matters. Because politicians aren’t going to put a lot of effort into this because they’re completely consumed with the pandemic.”