Press

Austria populists aim for breakthrough in presidency runoff

20 May 2016
Bloomberg
"The populists are able to tap into a sense of frustration in many voters that the kind of middle-class lives and middle-class jobs people used to have aren’t there anymore," said Ian Bond, a London-based director at the Centre for European Reform. "It's the sense that inequality is growing and that while the rich recovered, everybody else was left behind."

What would Brexit mean for Poland?

Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska
19 May 2016
Prospect
For the last nine years Polish and British experts, officials and politicians have met in Krakow annually to discuss their countries' visions for Europe.

What would Brexit mean for British trade?

19 May 2016
The Telegraph
John Springford, an economist with the Centre for European Reform, the total cost of those tariffs [on UK goods and it exported into the EU] would be large, ranging from a 2.2 per cent of GDP (£40 billion) to 9 per cent.

CER podcast: Five questions on the implications of a Brexit for EU Justice and Home Affairs policies

Sophia Besch, Camino Mortera-Martinez
18 May 2016
In the third episode of a series of podcasts on the implications of a Brexit for the EU, Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez explains the consequences of a Brexit for EU JHA policies.
No, TTIP is not a good reason for Britain to leave the European Union

No, TTIP is not a good reason for Britain to leave the European Union

Rem Korteweg
18 May 2016
The Telegraph
Britain’s Eurosceptics on the Left and Right have found common cause in objecting to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

EU Facts: What would leaving the EU mean for expats?

18 May 2016
The Telegraph
As an example, Spain could ask British retirees to pay for their own healthcare - according to the Centre for European Reform's John Springford - or move to curb access to healthcare services outright.

Brexeunt stage left: The Europeans hoping that Britain votes Brexit

Rem Korteweg
18 May 2016
The Guardian
Other, smaller Dutch parties, including the Socialists and Voor Nederland, were prominent in the victorious no campaign in the Dutch referendum on Ukraine. They are likely to “make statements praising the benefits of Brexit for the Dutch debate”, says Rem Korteweg at the Centre for European Reform.

New German court challenge of ECB unlikely to succeed

Christian Odendahl
17 May 2016
Reuters
"I don’t see any chance of this going anywhere," Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform said of latest legal challenge. "I think that the complaint against sovereign bond buying program had higher chances of success but didn’t succeed," Odendahl said. "The European Court of Justice argued that even this is inside the ECB’s mandate. So the purchase of private assets is clearly within the ECB’s mandate."

EU unlikely to offer Britain the ‘Swiss model’

16 May 2016
Financial Times
In considering the alternatives to EU membership available to Britain, Martin Wolf criticises the “Swiss model”. But he is not critical enough.

Brexit would be a challenge for Berlin

15 May 2016
Financial Times
For the first time in EU history, one country is the clear leader. But Germany’s authority faces many challenges - and the departure of the UK would make it even harder to manage this fissiparous club.
Liam Fox is wrong to suggest that the EU controls the Foreign Office

Liam Fox is wrong to suggest that the EU controls the Foreign Office

14 May 2016
The Spectator
Former Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute last week that the Foreign Office had been reduced to “little more than the EU embassy in Whitehall”.

CER podcast: Five questions on the economic implications of a Brexit for the EU

Sophia Besch, Simon Tilford
13 May 2016
In the second episode of a series of podcasts on the implications of a Brexit for the EU, Simon Tilford explains the economic consequences for the EU.

France's government survives vote over labor reform

12 May 2016
The Daily Mail
France is trying to do the bare minimum," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. But "politically it seems almost impossible to do this without street protests." ..."They're incredibly conservative ...they don't understand the world has changed. If you want companies to hire, you need to make it easier to fire. That is a lesson that the Spanish and Italians learned, and the Germans learned," Grant said.



Brexit would leave Germany more powerful with less influence

12 May 2016
Voice of America
"The departure of the UK, a vital ally, would make it even harder to manage this fissiparous club," argues Charles Grant, director of the London-based pro-EU research organization, the Centre for European Reform. "Brexit would leave the EU a less congenial place for many Germans, while also heightening resentment of Berlin’s power elsewhere on the continent," he argued in an opinion article in Britain’s Financial Times.

Judy Asks: Can debt relief save the euro?

Christian Odendahl, Marcel Fratzscher, George Pagoulatos, Stratos Pourzitakis, Alexander Privitera,
11 May 2016
Carnegie Europe
A selection of experts answer a new question from Judy Dempsey on the foreign and security policy challenges shaping Europe’s role in the world.

If you're voting for Brexit because you think British troops will be called up to an EU army, you've been horribly misled

Sophia Besch
11 May 2016
The Independent
Britain's Eurosceptics have spent years frightening people with the idea of an 'EU army' and the subject is once again rearing its head in the referendum campaign.

Draghi cast as cash conspirator foreshadows German clash on exit

Christian Odendahl
11 May 2016
Bloomberg
"When the economy or energy prices begin to push inflation higher, the real test will be whether the ECB has the stamina to hold on," said Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London.

Italy must choose between the euro and its own economic survival

Simon Tilford
11 May 2016
The Telegraph
"Italy is enormously vulnerable. It has gone through a whole global recovery with no growth," said Simon Tilford from the Centre for European Reform. "Core inflation is at dangerously low levels. The government has almost no policy ammunition to fight recession."

Campaigns for Britain to leave EU pull ahead in race to raise cash

11 May 2016
Reuters
"There are a lot of wealthy individuals who back Brexit," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. "On the Remain side there are a few, but it tends to be big companies who back remaining in the EU, and big companies find it difficult to donate to political campaigns."

There would be no growth

10 May 2016
Sunderland Echo
A study by the Centre for European Reform found that Britain’s EU membership has not prevented it from already having one of the most flexible labour markets in the world, which is one reason why unemployment has remained relatively low.