Press

Charles Grant, a long-term Brussels hand who heads the Centre for European Reform, has a sobering message for Brexiters tonight. He warns that the EU will indeed refuse to reopen talks on the backstop and highlights the gulf between what is on offer in Brussels and the kind of concessions the Brexiters now think they can win. "Having spent much of this week in Brussels, I have no doubt that the EU will refuse to reopen the withdrawal agreement/Irish backstop. EU leaders are alarmed that UK pols remain so ignorant of the EU position and the realities of Brexit."

The UK economy was 2.3 per cent smaller in the third quarter of last year than it would have been if the country had voted in 2016 to remain in the EU, according to the Centre for European Reform. The pro-EU think tank trimmed its estimate for the cost of Brexit from 2.5 per cent at the end of the second quarter, after the UK outperformed the hypothetical model economy. The new estimate means a weekly hit of £320 million ($422 million) to public finances, or £17 billion a year, the group said.

Britain voted to leave the European Union over two years ago and on 29 March this year, it will sever ties for good. While Brexit hasn’t technically happened, it has caused the economy to be 2.3% smaller than if Brits had voted to remain in the EU.

Meanwhile, a new report published by the Centre for European Reform on Sunday highlighted the damage the UK economy has already sustained as a result of the vote to leave.The CER said the economy was now 2.3 per cent smaller than it would have been if Britain had voted Remain, even after a recalculation that took account of the recent slowdown in Germany.

The UK’s better-than-expected economic growth last year prompted a pro-European think-tank to trim its cost estimate for voting for Brexit.The UK economy was 2.3 percent smaller in the third quarter than had the country voted in 2016 to remain in the European Union, according to the Centre for European Reform, a 0.2 percentage point cut from the prior three months. The estimate means a weekly hit of 320 million pounds ($422 million) to public finances, or 17 billion pounds a year, the group said.

Analyst Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre For European Reform says while there is opposition to the CFA franc in some African countries, Di Maio’s accusations are misleading. “Now there’s two reasons for that. One of them being that at the moment the latest data suggests they (migrants) are not from countries using the CFA franc. And the second point is that in any case, if countries remain poor, migration is actually lower,” Scazzieri told VOA.

“I think her strategy has always been to postpone the vote until the very last minute, so that even those members of Parliament who are skeptical about her deal, but don’t want there to be no deal, would think twice about voting against it,” said Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow in Brussels for the Centre for European Reform, a London-based research institute.