Press quotes

  • France-Allemagne, deux conceptions de la puissance
    Le Monde, 15 September 2013

    Pour Charles Grant, du Centre for European Reform, à Londres, "l'Allemagne est le grand problème" de la politique européenne de sécurité, car soit elle reste soit neutre, soit elle défend ses propres intérêts.

  • Royal Mail sell-off leaves Postman Pat confused
    Financial Times, 12 September 2013

    The missing bit of the narrative is the role played by allies of the UK. The latter-day Bluchers vital to the defeat of a Tobin tax were German industrialists, according to Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform.

  • German elections 2013: 'Do as we do' will remain the message to Europe
    The Guardian, 10 September 2013

    "However the Germans vote on 22 September, Berlin's attitude to the EU is not going to change much," Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, wrote this week. Most analysts agree.

  • Has Berlusconi finally run out of political lives?
    The New York Times, 08 September 2013

    "It could potentially be very significant," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in London. "Political instability in Italy is more of a concern than in Spain, Portugal or Greece."

  • Syria crisis reveals new paradigm
    The New York Times, 05 September 2013

    The vote in Parliament "could turn out to be the signal for a strategic shift in favor of insularity," said Ian Bond, a foreign policy specialist at the CER. British lawmakers risked "sending the message that in the future the UK will be content to stay on the sidelines, regardless of what is happening in distant lands."

  • USA's lille hjælper vil selv
    Information, 05 September 2013

    "Konflikten i Syrien er et eksempel på, hvor svært det er at blive enig om en fælles politik i Europa – men selv hvis der var enighed, kunne vi så gå ind? Faktum er, at mange europæiske lande ikke har de våben, der skal til, og dem, der har sofisti-kerede missiler, har langt mindre wbeholdninger end amerikanerne," siger Clara Marina O’Donnell, der CER.

  • Triple shock threaten Europe's sickly and deformed recovery
    The Daily Telegraph, 04 September 2013

    "Europe, it seems, has become anaesthetised to bad news," says Simon Tilford from the CER... "The reality is that the Spanish and Italian economies will shrink by a further 2pc in 2013. Greece is on course to contract by an additional 5pc to 7pc and Portugal by 3pc to 4pc.

  • How France went from loner to leader on European defence policy
    The Globe and Mail, 04 September 2013

    Mr Hollande is "the last man standing in Europe so to speak. He’s the go-to guy," said Rem Korteweg of the CER. The French President "is opportunistic and he’s willing to seize the moment to show himself as the unquestioned leader of Europe on defence and security issues.

  • Influencing Egypt with soft power
    The New York Times, 02 September 2013

    "During the entire two years, the EU was seen as an honest broker. Maybe [Catherine] Ashton could have used that leverage more than she did," said Rem Korteweg, a foreign policy analyst at the CER.

  • How much Europe is too much Europe?
    Reuters, 01 September 2013

    "It's like playing Jenga," said Hugo Brady of the CER, referring to a game that involves carefully removing wooden blocks from a tower and stacking them on top. "Eventually someone pulls out the wrong block and the whole thing collapses."