Charles Grant, Director

Charles Grant studied modern history at Cambridge University. He then took a diploma in French politics at Grenoble University. Returning to London, Grant joined Euromoney, the financial magazine, in 1981.

He moved to The Economist in 1986, where he wrote about the City. In 1987 he began a series of articles which exposed the County NatWest-Blue Arrow scandal, which led to two Department of Trade and Industry inquiries and a long criminal trial. In 1988, together with David Goodhart, he wrote Making the City work, a Fabian booklet which proposed a reform programme for Britain's financial markets.

In 1989 The Economist posted Grant to Brussels, to cover the European Community. In 1992 his writing on economic and monetary union won the Adelphi Foundation's Prix Stendhal. In 1993 Grant returned to The Economist’s London office, soon becoming defence editor. His biography of Jacques Delors (Delors: Inside the House that Jacques Built, published by Nicholas Brealey) appeared in 1994. It was subsequently translated into French, Japanese and Russian.

In 1996 Grant helped to set up the Centre for European Reform, an independent think-tank that is dedicated to promoting a reform agenda within the European Union. In January 1998 Grant left The Economist to become the first director of the Centre for European Reform. He is the author of many CER publications, including Can Britain lead in Europe? (1998); EU 2010: an optimistic vision of the future (2000); and Transatlantic rift: how to bring the two sides together (2003). Most recently he is the author of What happens if Britain votes no? Ten ways out of an EU constitutional crisis, (2005), Europe’s blurred boundaries: rethinking enlargement and neighbourhood policy (2006); European choices for Gordon Brown (2007); and Preparing for the multipolar world: European foreign and security policy in 2020 (2007). His most recent book, Can Europe and China shape a new world order? (written with Katinka Barysch) was published in June 2008.

Grant is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, the Guardian and many other publications. He became a director and trustee of the British Council in 2002. He is also a member of the Committee for Russia in a United Europe (chaired by Vladimir Ryzhkov). He is a member of the international advisory board of the Moscow School of Political Studies. In 2004 he became a chevalier of France’s Ordre Nationale du Mérite. Hobbies include hill-walking and music.

Main areas of expertise: Russia, European foreign and defence policy, Transatlantic relations, the Future of Europe debate, Britain and the euro.

CER publications:

• How to handle the new Russia
  (bulletin article, October/November 2008)
  
  
• India's role in the new world order
  (briefing note, September 2008)
  
  
• Three scenarios for the Lisbon treaty
  (bulletin article, August/September 2008)
  
  
• Four pillars for an EU-India partnership
  (bulletin article, June/July 2008)
  
  
• Can Europe and China shape a
  new world order?
  (report with Katinka Barysch, May 2008)
  
  
• The Czechs in the EU: In the middle of the class
  (CER insight article, 10 March 2008)
  
  
• Poland's bold new foreign policy
  (bulletin article, February/March 2008)
  
  
• Preparing for the multipolar world:
  European foreign and security policy in 2020
  essay with Tomas Valasek,
  December 2007
  
  
• The EU must stand firm on Bosnia
  (bulletin article with Tomas Valasek,
  December 2007/January 2008)
  
  
• A grand bargain with Russia?
  (CER insight article, 19 October 2007)
  
  
• Where next for Turkey?
  (CER insight article with Katinka Barysch, 24 July 2007)
  
  
• The EU should talk to Hamas
  (bulletin article with Clara Marina O'Donnell, August/September 2007)
  
  
• The EU should talk to Hamas
  (CER insight article with Clara Marina O'Donnell,
  11 July 2007)
  
  
• European choices for Gordon Brown
  (report by Charles Grant, with Hugo Brady,
  Simon Tilford and Aurore Wanlin, June 2007)
  
  
• Why treaty change matters for business
  and for Britain
  (policy brief with Hugo Brady, May 2007)
  
  
• Nicolas Sarkozy: Turkophobe and protectionist?
  (CER insight article, 8 May 2007)
  
  
• The EU and Arab reform
  (CER insight article with Tomas Valasek, 27 April 2007)
  
  
• Sarkozy - the new Napoleon
  (article by Charles Grant, published on the Guardian blog, 23 April 2007)
  
  
• The EU, the US and Taiwan
  (CER insight article, 16 April 2007)
  
  
• Britain and the EU: a crisis looms
  (bulletin article, April/May 2007)
  
  
• The view from 2027
  (opinion paper, 22 March 2007)
  
  
• Has Germany been Finlandised (and has Britain)?
  (CER insight article, 21 December 2006)
  
  
• If Turkey and the EU break up...
  (bulletin article with Katinka Barysch,
  December 2006/January 2007)
  
  
• Europe's blurred boundaries:
  Rethinking enlargement and neighbourhood policy
  (report, October 2006)
  
  
• How to strengthen EU foreign policy
  (policy brief with Mark Leonard, July 2006)
  
  
• How to build a better EU foreign policy
  (bulletin article with Mark Leonard,
  April/May 2006)
  
  
• The EU's awkward neighbour:
  Time for a new policy on Belarus
  (policy brief with Mark Leonard, April 2006)
  
  
• India and the EU: Strategic partners?
  (bulletin article, February/March 2006)
  
  
• Georgia and the EU:
  Can Europe's neighbourhood policy deliver?
  (policy brief with Mark Leonard, October 2005)
  
  
• Can variable geometry save EU enlargement?
  (bulletin article, October/November 2005)
  
  
• Germany's foreign policy: What lessons can be learned from the Schröder years?
  (essay, September 2005)
  
  
• Europe beyond the referendums
  (bulletin article, June/July 2005)
  
  
• Embracing the dragon
  The EU's partnership with China
  (report by Katinka Barysch,
  with Charles Grant and Mark Leonard, May 2005)
  
  
• What new transatlantic institutions?
  (bulletin article with Mark Leonard, April/May 2005)
  
  
• What happens if Britain votes No? Ten ways out of a European constitutional crisis
  (report, March 2005)