Research
Tomorrow's Europe
06 June 1997
Describing the old Common Market, Walter Hallstein, the Commission's first President, remarked: "Anyone who does not believe in miracles in European affairs is no realist".
Europe and our future
07 March 1997
There is an almost daily diet of frenzied debate about the future of this country in the European Union. Why add to it? Europe is after all not the most vital topic which people see as affecting their everyday lives.
Britain and EMU: The case for joining
07 February 1997
As the deadline for the start of Economic and Monetary Union approaches, the British debate on the single currency is shifting. Theoretical discussions on the pros and cons of monetary union are becoming less relevant. Britain now faces an urgent and practical question: if, as seems likely, its principal trading...
Why Europe matters: A personal view
20 September 1996
Britain should play an active role in reforming the European Union, not out of starry-eyed idealism, but from hard-nosed self-interest. Ralf Dahrendorf offers ten guiding principles for improving the way the EU works, and argues that its most urgent priority should be to take in new members from Eastern Europe.
Can industrial Europe be saved?
13 September 1996
Pessimists claim that the European economy is sinking under the weight of an over-regulated labour market and a costly welfare state. Taking a hard-headed look at the facts, Olivier Cadot and Pierre Blime find that Europe's competitive position in manufacturing has declined, industrial Europe is facing declining market shares in...
Opening the door: The enlargement of NATO and the European Union
06 September 1996
Britain and its European allies are now committed to a radical redrawing of their continent's political and economic map.
Strength in numbers: Europe's foreign and defence policy
06 September 1996
The countries of the European Union need to speak with a common voice on foreign policy. They share similar fundamental interests, which are sometimes distinct from those of the Americans.
Reshaping Europe: Visions for the future
06 September 1996
Many Europeans are unhappy with the way the European Union works. How can it be remodelled? Neither old-fashioned federalism nor chauvinistic Euroscepticism offer the answer. In Reshaping Europe, five writers offer fresh ideas for the future.
Annual report - 2007
The signing of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2007 may well prove to have been an important step in the history of the European Union. Not because the treaty will lead to big changes in the way the EU works – it will not, though it does promise to make the institutions more effective. But the agreement on the new text – assuming that all 27 members ratify it in 2008 – should allow the EU to leave behind six years of dull and sometimes acrimonious debates on treaties, institutions and constitutions.
Annual report - 2006
At the start of 2007 it was easy to be gloomy about the state of the European Union. Its governments cannot agree on the institutional changes that are needed to make the EU run better. The core euroland economies are stifled by a lack of structural reform. Externally, the member-states differ on how to deal with their large and worrisome neighbour, Russia. The Union’s underlying philosophy of openness and integration, and of co-operating and pooling sovereignty to solve common problems, has few eloquent proponents among European leaders.
Annual report - 2005
The European Union had a difficult year in 2005. Bitter arguments over the EU budget, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Doha round of trade talks fuelled an often poisonous atmosphere among EU leaders. More fundamentally, the poor performance of the core Euroland economies worsened many of Europe’s problems. Low economic growth and high unemployment make many people fearful of change, whether it comes in the form of new EU treaties, fresh rounds of enlargement or world trade liberalisation.
Annual report - 2004
The CER has always championed an outward-looking EU that is aware of its global responsibilities. In several ways the EU is evolving in the right direction: it has enlarged eastwards and still plans to take in more countries; it has started to develop its own security strategy and (albeit modest) military capabilities; and it has established a carbon emissions trading system that offers the rest of the world a model for tackling global warming.
Annual report - 2003
The past year has been one of the best ever for the CER. Whether success is measured by the impact of our publications, our visibility in the British and global media, or the number of opinion pieces that we write for the international press, we have had a fine year. A CER team won the Foreign Policy Association/Richard C Welden Foundation essay competition, for a piece on transatlantic relations. Colin Powell awarded the prize to the CER’s Steven Everts at the FPA’s annual dinner in New York in May.
Annual report - 2002
The year 2002 was the most successful yet in the CER’s short history. Many of our seminars were talked about long after the event – including the launch of our pamphlet on competition policy with Commissioner Mario Monti; a round-table on transatlantic relations with Commissioner Pascal Lamy; a lunch with Commissioner Chris Patten on the same subject; and two meetings to launch New Designs for Europe – one with Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller in London, and one with former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato in Brussels.
US missile defence: Strategically sound, politically questionable
In Europe, both governments and the broad spread of public opinion have been largely sceptical about, or opposed to, missile defence. Arguments between the Europeans and the Bush administration over missile defence – combined with tensions over the European Security and Defence Policy, and American participation in Balkan peacekeeping operations...
Annual report - 2014
Charles Grant discusses three challenges facing the EU in 2015: the combined problems of Russia and Ukraine; the continuing fragility of the eurozone; and the growing risk that Britain will leave the EU. Simon Tilford writes on the CER’s work on economics last year, and Ian Bond on our work on...
Annual report - 2015
Charles Grant discusses the CER's work in 2015, the geopolitical significance of the EU, the impact of Brexit on the EU, and the forthcoming UK referendum. Simon Tilford writes on the CER's work on economics last year, and Ian Bond on our work on foreign policy.