Research
Post-Brexit hygiene checks will leave British fishermen all at sea
23 April 2018
Financial Times
“Neither Calais nor the Eurotunnel — two of our main routes into Europe — have the facilities required to accept fish imports from non-EU countries. The nearest port with the required facilities is Dunkirk, but it only has the capacity for a paltry 15 inspections a day.” (Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform, in The Times).
Brexit could yet be stopped at customs
23 April 2018
Financial Times
Charles Grant, head of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, reckons the chances of stopping Brexit are now less than 5 per cent. A couple of prominent Remainer MPs with whom I’ve discussed the issue put the odds of stopping Brexit at between 20 per cent and 40 per cent. With so many informed people arriving at such wildly divergent conclusions, my own conclusion is that nobody really knows. There are just too many uncertainties.
Złe wieści dla Polski. Mniej unijnych pieniędzy dla Wschodu, więcej dla krajów Południa
23 April 2018
Wiadomosci
Komisja chciałaby przekierunkować część środków, które do tej pory szły do państw Europy Środkowej na rzecz państw Południa, tj. Państw strefy euro. Wydaje się, że jest to konsekwencja dyskusji na temat strefy euro i apelu prezydenta Francji Macrona, że UE powinna skupić się na wyciągnięciu strefy euro z kryzysu - mówi WP Agata Gostyńska, analityk Centre for European Reform - Zwolennicy tego podejścia twierdzą, że to konieczne, by poprawić zaufanie obywateli do UE i strefy euro. Chodzi o to, by na poważnie zająć się problemami, które bezpośrednio trapią obywateli. A najbardziej namacalnym problemem jest tu problem bezrobocia - dodaje.
How the Brexit vote is changing the EU: Eurozone and EU reform
20 April 2018
Financial Times
National leaders want to roll back integration on other fronts — for example, by regaining full control over the appointment of the next European Commission president. Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska says these efforts suggest that “the irony of Brexit is that the EU is becoming more British, just as the UK is leaving the EU”.
Germany's arms exports have spiked, despite domestic opposition and public scrutiny
19 April 2018
World Politics Review
Between 2014 and 2017, Germany’s government approved some $31 billion in weapons sales, including almost $18 billion to countries outside the European Union and the NATO alliance.
LBC: How will Russia react to allied strike on Syria
14 April 2018
Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform speaks to LBC about how Russia will react or retaliate to the allied strikes on Syria.
Custom made
13 April 2018
Financial Times
Samuel Lowe at the Centre for European Reform makes the case for the UK to stay in a customs union with the EU after Brexit. It'll be much better than Turkey's current customs deal, he writes: "Being a in a customs union, and in particular one with the EU, would constrain the UK’s ability to sign new trade agreements. From a macroeconomic perspective, this is of little relevance: even the government’s own analysis find new FTAs will be of small benefit to the UK’s economy, compared to the cost of Brexit."
Is Labour selling the UK a turkey?
13 April 2018
Financial Times
"The EU could use its best endeavour to ensure the UK is party to its future FTAs. While the UK would remain responsible for negotiating its own market access, both the EU and UK negotiators could sit on the same side of the table in some parts of the negotiations," wrote Sam Lowe, from the Centre for European Reform.
Don't be a stranger! EU-UK foreign policy co-operation after Brexit
13 April 2018
E!Sharp
The world feels a dangerous place at present. Relations between the West and Russia are at their most confrontational since the Cold War.
Could Theresa May get away with a customs union climbdown?
12 April 2018
The Telegraph
Sam Lowe, from the Centre for European Reform, has highlighted a number of ways the UK-EU customs union could be markedly better than what Turkey has. For example, there could be a mechanism by which the UK is "substantively consulted" before the EU enters trade talks, which he acknowledges is possible given the "heft" Brussels would get from having Brexit Britain "on its team in future FTA talks".
Britain to send 'hundreds' of civil servants to Brussels to hammer out a trade deal by October after Davis wins Whitehall battle with officials
11 April 2018
The Daily Mail
Sam Lowe, from the Centre for European Reform, said Mr Davis's plan may well fail. 'The fact David Davis thinks we can substantively negotiate on the future relationship is slightly odd, as the EU vision and UK's still seem a long way apart,' he told The Times.
Theresa's Irish trilemma
11 April 2018
Bright Blue
Theresa May must soon deal with an invidious trilemma. She can only choose two of three options: leaving the single market and customs union, maintaining a border-free Ireland, and pursuing a whole-UK approach to Brexit.
CER Bulletin podcast: EU reform; Brexit and foreign policy; Europe and cyber security
11 April 2018
In the CER Bulletin podcast, CER researchers brief podcast listeners on three of the most important topics for Europe this month.
David Davis wins battle over Brexit negotiations
11 April 2018
The Times
Sam Lowe, from the Centre for European Reform, said Mr Davis’s plan may well fail. “The fact David Davis thinks we can substantively negotiate on the future relationship is slightly odd, as the EU vision and UK’s still seem a long way apart,” he said.
British banks will have to cut ties to sanctioned oligarchs, US says
10 April 2018
The New York Times
British officials have not always been enthusiastic about the American sanctions, but British businesses have tended to comply, largely out of fear of being penalized by the United States, said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Center for European Reform. “The reality is that, for most companies dealing with the United States, the U.S. is much more important than dealing with Russia or Cuba or Iran or Libya,” he said.
A back up plan for Brexit
10 April 2018
Nezavisimaya Gazeta
“In order to get a beneficial deal from the EU, May will have to relax her demands on Brussels, but her party members are an obstacle to this, notes researcher at the Centre for European Reform in London Beth Oppenheim.
The UK and Europe: Brexit, rules of origin and barriers to trade
09 April 2018
E!Sharp
Where is the phone in your hand actually from? Designed in California, assembled in China, it says. But what about the components: the battery, the screen, the processor?
There’s little to lose from exploring sunlit uplands Down Under
06 April 2018
The Times
The long and the short of this negotiation, Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform said, is that Australia will function as a test case for the US, making American-style demands with less market power, teasing out what concessions Brexit Britain is willing to make.
India in no 'rush' to sign a post-Brexit trade deal and will tell Britain to accept more migrants
06 April 2018
Business Insider
Writing for Business Insider on Thursday, trade expert Sam Lowe warned that countries will make tricky and in some cases unacceptable demands in free trade deal negotiations with post-Brexit Britain. "When it comes down to it, I wouldn’t be surprised if the most valuable lesson we learn from our first post-Brexit forays into the world is that, when lofty free trade ambition runs up against domestic political reality, the UK is really quite 'European' after all," the Centre for European Reform research fellow wrote.
Brexit Britain looks to Commonwealth 2.0
06 April 2018
EurActiv
“Some of the demands we’ll probably hear about will be on things like agriculture quotas, such as quotas for their orange-sellers,” says Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform, of South Africa’s likely demands.