Press

Meet Richard Szostak: The EU’s new Brexit divorce mediator

19 March 2021
Politico
“It’s going to be all about damage limitation,” said Charles Grant, director at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. ...“The British thought that during the Brexit negotiations he sometimes took quite a hard line,” Grant said. “Nobody accused him of being too soft on the British.”

Boris Johnson's vaccine miracle

18 March 2021
The New Yorker
“That exports to the EU collapsed so badly, much worse than to everyone else, shows that, you know, quelle surprise, if you have some checks on the French side of the border, you’re going to have a lot less trade,” John Springford, the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a London think tank, told me.

How the UK government can solve the Brexit stand-off over Northern Ireland

Sam Lowe
18 March 2021
Financial Times
As Sam Lowe at the Centre for European Reform think-tank explains here, such a Swiss-style deal would leave the UK “permanently bound to EU food hygiene rules”, but in return there would be no more need for export health certificates and the reams of other red tape currently strangling UK businesses.

Europe's latest vaccine controversy risks being a crisis too far

Camino Mortera-Martinez
17 March 2021
Bloomberg
“The EU’s vaccine rollout, or the lack thereof, will have long lasting effects on European politics, could see incumbent governments lose power, and could hinder economic recovery particularly in worst-hit countries,” said Camino Mortera, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.

What Switzerland can do about the US-China rivalry

16 March 2021
Swiss Info
“This is the rivalry that will shape the next decades,” said Bond, head of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, a pro-European think-tank.

Global Britain pivots to Asia

15 March 2021
Politico
“I wonder whether we will be able to keep doing that — it is a question worth asking,” said Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “NATO has always assumed that Britain will make a significant contribution to any land defense of Europe. We have a relatively small number of troops in Estonia, but NATO has worked on the basis that we would also have a larger body of troops available to defend Europe.”

Voters worried that Brexit has been bad for economy, as official figures show massive slump in trade

13 March 2021
The Independent
John Springford at the Centre for European Reform calculated that Brexit had reduced Britain’s total goods trade by £16bn (22 per cent), on top of a 10 per cent reduction in volume in the years after the 2016 referendum.

UK's vaccine campaign fails, for now, to fire up EU 'exit' movements

Camino Mortera-Martinez
13 March 2021
Voice of America
“Obviously, this comes as a big blow to those who have been saying for a long time that Britain was going to do much worse outside of the European Union,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, Brussels-based analyst for the Centre for European Reform policy institute.  

Despite new data showing huge UK-EU trade slump almost half of polled Britons would vote for Brexit

13 March 2021
Sputnik News
According to calculations carried out by John Springford at the Centre for European Reform, Britain’s withdrawal from the European bloc had slashed its total goods trade by £16 bln (22 per cent).

Understanding trade in services

Sam Lowe
12 March 2021
Encompass
Trade in services is not well understood. Unlike trade in goods, where buyers and sellers physically transport objects across borders, it is possible to sell a service to a client on the other side of the world, unbeknownst to anyone else, without ever leaving the comfort of your living room.

Food and drink exports to EU fall 65% in post-Brexit slump

Sam Lowe
12 March 2021
The Grocer
“If you put up large barriers to international trade, the expected result is trading becomes more expensive and difficult, and therefore there is less trade than if the barriers were not there,” said Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform on Twitter.

Les électeurs craignent que le Brexit n’ait été mauvais pour l’économie, alors que les chiffres officiels montrent un effondrement massif des échanges

12 March 2021
News 24
John Springford, du Centre for European Reform, a calculé que le Brexit avait réduit le commerce total de marchandises de la Grande-Bretagne de 16 milliards de livres sterling (22%), en plus d’une réduction de volume de 10% dans les années qui ont suivi le référendum de 2016.

CER podcast: The politics of vaccines in Europe

Camino Mortera-Martinez, Christian Odendahl, John Springford, Tomáš Valášek
11 March 2021
John Springford discussed the EU's shortcomings in rolling out the vaccine with Tomáš Valášek, Camino Mortera-Martínez and Christian Odendahl.

Bloomberg Daybreak Europe: Odendahl: Vaccine rollout risks anger beyond Brussels

Christian Odendahl
11 March 2021
While the initial blame for the slow European vaccination rollout went to the European institutions, which negotiated the contracts, public backlash now risks spilling into national politics with the German CDU next in line ahead of a general election in September, according to Christian Odendahl, Chief Economist at the Centre...

Britain delays Brexit border checks for goods coming from Europe

Sam Lowe
11 March 2021
The New York Times
“It’s probably the right thing to do but it points to some political failings because it was very predictable,” said Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Center for European Reform, a research institute based in London, referring to the government’s announcement Thursday. “Clearly the infrastructure isn’t in place to allow for full inspections in July.”

Why the roots of the EU’s vaccine catastrophe lie in Merkel’s shadowy past in Communist East Germany

Christian Odendahl
07 March 2021
Daily Mail
As Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, puts it of her Christian Democratic Union party: ‘The CDU is not the party of ideas. It is the party of maintaining the status quo.’

EU chaos a result of OWN shambolic leadership decisions - 'Got what you paid for!'

Camino Mortera-Martinez
07 March 2021
Express
Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said if EU governments were wondering who appointed such unsuitable people to such important positions, they do not have far to look.

The Commission’s plan to restart COVID travel

Camino Mortera-Martinez
05 March 2021
Politico
It’s not like anyone in the EU is able to fully exercise their freedom of movement at the moment, argued Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “We are not departing from a normal situation,” she said. The unvaccinated wouldn’t face discrimination, Mortera-Martinez argued, because they would still be allowed to travel under limited circumstances - it would just be easier for those who’ve had the shot.

Brexit teething problems?

Sam Lowe
05 March 2021
Blakeney
Boris Johnson has described the struggles facing British companies trading with the EU under the new post-Brexit arrangements as “teething problems”.

Exclusive: UK to begin backdoor push to get Joe Biden to dump Trump's steel tariffs

Sam Lowe
04 March 2021
City A.M
Sam Lowe, trade expert at the the Centre for European Reform think tank, said the Biden administration would soon have to conduct a wider discussion about how it deals with Trump-era trade policies.“It is possible the UK gets excluded from the [steel tariffs], but the US has to have that conversation themselves,” he said.“I don’t think Biden will get rid of them entirely, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were left on China, but the conversation will be whether they get rid of them for key allies like the UK.”