Press
The Brexit deal is being celebrated as though it removes all tariffs. It doesn’t
08 January 2021
Prospect
The newly signed EU-UK trade and co-operation agreement (TCA) does little to remove bureaucracy at the border, or facilitate trade in services, but it does at least remove all tariffs and quotas, right?
Brexit means UK eateries fight harder for authentic fare
08 January 2021
Bloomberg
“The era of mixed consignments will pretty much come to an end,” said Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. “It just becomes too much hassle.”
Encompass Podcast: Geopolitics in 2021
07 January 2021
Charles Grant spoke to Paul Adamson about likely trends in geopolitics in 2021.
Debenhams closes online business in Ireland as 50 major UK retailers face EU tariffs
07 January 2021
ITV News
"Clearly goods imported from Asia and re-distributed to the EU are not from the UK - they are from China or Bangladesh or wherever.Goods will be now be subject to a tariff when entering the UK and then again when entering the EU," explains Sam Lowe from the Centre for European Reform.
Pan-EU food supply chains hit by Brexit trade deal
06 January 2021
Financial Times
Ms Jerzewska said that Brussels could address the problem by issuing a derogation, or waiver, a view supported by Sam Lowe, trade specialist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “If the EU wants to resolve the issue, it could do so pretty easily with an extra clarification,” he said.
Could the military solve Europe’s Covid-19 vaccine woes?
06 January 2021
New Statesman
“There is a healthy scepticism towards using the German Bundeswehr for tasks that police could do, though under [the current German defence minister] Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and [the former German defence minister] Ursula von der Leyen before her, there have been attempts to rehabilitate the standing of the army in society,” Sophia Besch, a defence fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, told me.
Parliament: Future Relationship with the European Union Committee
06 January 2021
Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform gave evidence on the progress of the negotiations on the UK's future relationship with the EU.
That’s why we left! EU punishes Ireland supply chains in bid to exert full Brexit pressure
06 January 2021
Express
Sam Lowe, trade specialist at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “If the EU wants to resolve the issue, it could do so pretty easily with an extra clarification to the UK and Irish markets.”
Brexit trade deal ‘very unstable’ and can easily be brought crashing down, legal expert warns MPs
06 January 2021
Independent
Sam Lowe, of the Centre for European Reform, warned of a difficult task ahead for the UK to achieve its aims, now it was “a third country”.
“It's not very nice negotiating with the EU from the outside, even if you're nearby – just look at Switzerland, just look at Turkey's experience.
“It's going to be rough for the UK in terms of its relationship with the EU, although I do agree with Catherine that it will evolve over time as it should.”
“It's not very nice negotiating with the EU from the outside, even if you're nearby – just look at Switzerland, just look at Turkey's experience.
“It's going to be rough for the UK in terms of its relationship with the EU, although I do agree with Catherine that it will evolve over time as it should.”
Brexit could start 'rebellion against Germany' within EU as bloc warned of divide
05 January 2021
Express
Charles Grant, founder the Centre for European Reform, predicted without the UK's influence, Germany will gain yet more power in the bloc. Mr Grant said in 2016: "The Germans themselves are particularly unhappy about Brexit, and not only because they worry that other EU countries – now even more anxious about German dominance – may be tempted to form an alliance against them.
Brexit treaty offers no easy path to EU defence research funding for UK
05 January 2021
Science Business
“These provisions are not dissimilar to US controls on defence technology, which force UK companies with operations in the US to create elaborate firewalls to ensure that UK personnel do not acquire sensitive US information or US-generated intellectual property,” said Ian Bond, former British diplomat and director of foreign affairs at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank.
Trade Talks: What’s in the new EU-UK trade deal? Brexperts explain
03 January 2021
The EU and UK announce their long-awaited trade agreement formalizing Brexit. What is covered, and what is still to be negotiated. Featuring Alan Beattie (Financial Times), Emily Rees and David Henig (European Centre for International Political Economy), Sam Lowe (Centre for European Reform), Anna Jerzewska (TradeandBorders.com), and Anand Menon (UK in a Changing Europe).
British firms mull relocating to 'other side of Brexit curtain'
01 January 2021
Voice of America
“Manufacturers and farmers will face irksome checks at borders for things like customs, VAT (value added tax), safety and security, plant and animal health, and much more. Services companies will lose access to the single market unless they set up subsidiaries within it,” notes Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform [CER], a London-based research organization.