Press quotes

  • Will David Cameron's veto protect the City?
    The Guardian, 12 December 2011

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER, told me: "I find it very hard to understand why the exercise of this veto is some kind of victory for the City. I don't think that's shared unanimously across the City."

  • Opportunity for Britain amid European uncertainty
    BBC News, 12 December 2011

    As Simon Tilford, from the CER, pointed out, with debt brakes being written into national constitutions, austerity is being "hard-wired" into the framework of the EU.

  • Yes, Cameron got it right: Most voters agree with PM vetoing treaty changes - and half think we should now quit the EU
    Daily Mail, 11 December 2011

    Charles Grant, director of the London based Centre for European Reform think-tank, said: "For the first time in the history of the EU, the Germans are now in charge."

  • Merkel's teutonic summit enshrines Hooverism in EU treaty law
    The Telegraph, 11 December 2011

    "The agreement hard-wires pro-cyclical fiscal austerity into the institutional framework of the eurozone, with no quid quo pro to move gradually to debt mutualisation." said Simon Tilford from the CER.

  • Dave has played his ace, so he’d better win
    The Sunday Times, 11 December 2011

    Or it could be that Britain’s future is the one sketched out by Charles Grant, director of the CER: "a disaster for the UK" that overturns decades of foreign policy.

  • How a deal may save the euro but not preserve Europe
    Time, 10 December 2011

    "It is conceivable that a different British government could seek to reverse this disastrous opt-out," says Charles Grant, director of the CER. "More likely, Britain will continue on a path towards isolation, perhaps even leaving the EU itself."

  • Agreed-to EU pact sets stage for quantum leap in integration
    Los Angeles Times, 10 December 2011

    "This is not primarily a fiscal crisis. It's basically a growth crisis, and there's nothing in this agreement that makes one any more optimistic about economic growth," said Simon Tilford of the CER in London.

  • Summit snippets
    Irish Times, 10 December 2011

    Brussels-based Irish think-tanker Hugo Brady's take on the Cameron strategy: "If you're not at the table you're on the menu."

  • EU treaty: Bashing the Brits is an old habit in France that still boosts a politician’s popularity
    The Telegraph, 10 December 2011

    "It's not so much a row as a divorce, a passing of the ways," says Charles Grant of the CER. "It's more fundamental because the survival of the euro is existential for Sarkozy. He, like the Germans, will do everything he can to ensure its longevity and Britain is not part of that."

  • Britain stands alone as Cameron uses veto
    The Times, 10 December 2011

    Charles Grant, director of the CER think-tank, said that the developments would prove to be a "disaster" for the financial sector. "I can't think of a worse outcome for the City," he added. The rest of the EU would form a caucus "and tell us what they have decided".