Press quotes

  • NATO chief backs defence deal between Britain and France
    The Guardian, 08 October 2010

    "There's a pattern," said Tomas Valasek, a defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. "France and the UK have the same problems, both with nuclear forces and the full spectrum of military capability. They face the dilemma of dramatic spending cuts while trying to retain European superpower status.

  • Europe praises choice of Liu for Nobel
    Los Angeles Times, 08 October 2010

    "Europe still wants a closer, tighter commercial relationship with China," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. "The Chinese think we're obsessed with human rights when in fact we're not. Southern Europe — Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal — are not too concerned about pressing China on human rights." Even in Northern Europe, he said, "human rights is seen as something you mention occasionally but shouldn't let intrude in your commercial relationships."

  • Panel wants EU regional payouts centralised in Brussels
    EurActiv, 08 October 2010

    Simon Tilford of the UK-based Centre for European Reform think-tank declared himself skeptical about better-off regions getting money, even if they are relatively poorer in their own countries. "National regional policies need to be rethought, ... I don't see the case for depriving poor countries of needed funds when rich nations have failed to redistribute wealth within their own territories."

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina still divided 15 years after war
    CNN, 07 October 2010

    Tomas Valasek, of the London-based Centre for European Reform, said the war in Bosnia has continued by other means, such as politics. "When I return to Mostar I'm surprised by how little healing as taken place. Speaking to the locals you realise there is a great deal of animosity.

  • EU risks making a bad situation worse
    New York Times, 04 October 2010

    "Poor economic growth prospects, not high deficits, lie at the heart of the eurozone crisis," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform think tank. ... "The eurozone can only avoid permanent crisis by convincing investors that growth will be strong enough for the hard-hit members of the currency union to service their debts," Tilford wrote in an essay entitled 'How to save the euro.' "As things stand, it is hard to see how they can grow their way out of trouble."

  • Why Germany is now happy to punch its weight
    BBC, 03 October 2010

    Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, says in recent times Germany has often shocked its partners by forcefully pressing its demands, leading to all kinds of "recalculations" within both the EU and NATO.

  • NATO document addresses nuclear disarmament
    New York Times, 30 September 2010

    "NATO can hold on to nuclear weapons and at the same time support calls for disarmament," said Tomas Valasek, a security expert at the Centre for European Reform in London who was an adviser to Mrs Albright.

  • EU unveils deficit sanctions as unions protest
    Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September 2010

    "Unless there is a rethink, the eurozone risks permanent crisis, with chronically weak economic growth across the region as a whole and politically destabilising deflation in the struggling member states," Simon Tilford, chief economist of the Centre for European Reform, said in an essay.

  • Union protests put pressure on EU leaders
    Time, 29 September 2010

    "Poor economic-growth prospects, rather than fiscal ill-discipline, lie at the heart of the currency union's problems," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think tank. "But the EU's inadequate policy response ignores this and risks condemning the eurozone to permanent crisis."

  • Austerity protests may curb eurozone reform
    Reuters, 28 September 2010

    "The danger of social protest is real but more subtle," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think tank. "I don't think it will lead governments to fall, but it is changing the intellectual climate in Europe to make further moves toward market liberalisation less likely, and hence the long-term stability and survival of the euro less likely ... Social protests reflect a shift in the Zeitgeist (mood of the age) that will damage economic efficiency and productivity and lead to slower growth in Europe," Grant said.