Press quotes

  • In Britain, pomp for Obama but serious business too
    New York Times, 24 May 2011

    "The British are disappointed that the US seems only to be half-committed to this battle," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. "The view goes that even if the US felt it had to make withdrawals, to say so in public would allow Gaddafi to relax and think that the US didn't really want to get rid of him."

  • Eurogroup chief vexes partners as crisis rages
    Reuters, 24 May 2011

    "The French in particular have found Juncker lacking in his ability to provide leadership during the crisis," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform in London. "When he does talk it has added to the sense of disarray." But Grant, of the CER in London, says Juncker does not deserve all the blame for the mixed messages coming out of the eurozone, nor the stop-start response to the bloc's crisis. "You have the (eurozone) patient in its sick bed, but there is no agreement on the nature of the disease, let alone what medicine is required.

  • Lagarde may stake claim as first female IMF chief
    Bloomberg, 19 May 2011

    Lagarde, 55, has the negotiating skills and an understanding of Europe's sovereign debt crisis needed for the post, say analysts including Charles Grant at the Centre for European Reform. "We should choose the best candidate, whether European, Antarctican or Uruguayan," said Grant, executive director of the London-based research group. "The French have a record of strong candidates and the obvious one now would be Lagarde."

  • Europa sucht eine Integrationsfigur
    Wiener Zeitung, 19 May 2011

    "Das müsste schon ein sehr, sehr starker Kandidat sein", sagt Simon Tilford, Chefökonom der Londoner Denkfabrik Centre for European Reform, im Gespräch mit der "Wiener Zeitung". ... "Er hat es ermöglicht, dass die Widerstände im IWF gegen ein Engagement in der Eurozone überwunden wurden", sagt Tilford. ... Der IWF zählte zwar einerseits zu den institutionellen Gewinnern der "Großen Rezession": Er konnte sich in der Krise seinen Ruf als Finanzfeuerwehr zurückerobern und kehrte dafür von alten, teilweise überholten Dogmen ab. Dieser Kurswandel sei nicht zuletzt mit Strauss-Kahn verbunden ...

  • Belarus turns to Russia for bailout
    The Moscow News, 18 May 2011

    Lukashenko's economic model and social contract with the Belarusian people is based on hand-outs, mostly from Europe and Russia, Tomas Valasek from the Centre for European Reform told The Moscow News, after election violence and brutal police crack downs on opposition protestors put a new crack in Lukashenko's relations with the European Union.

  • $32Bln not enough for TNK partners
    The Moscow Times, 18 May 2011

    "It's not something that will turn investor perception on Russia around," said Katinka Barysch, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform. "There's nobody who is blue-eyed about Russia these days, especially in the energy sector."

  • Dissecting three aspects of the eurozone drama
    The Wall Street Journal, 16 May 2011

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, has done some interesting arithmetic that suggests that even after a default relieves Greece of interest burdens, its stagnant economy cannot produce sufficient revenues to reduce its still-huge deficits.

  • Greece's islands will not be offered as loan collateral, warns prime minister
    The Guardian, 15 May 2011

    "The longer this goes on, the more you increase the likelihood of serious damage to the relationship between the member states, and the more you risk the erosion of what remains a fairly sturdy consensus in favour of membership," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.

  • Greece is the word
    The Sunday Business Post, 15 May 2011

    "The politics look formidably difficult," wrote Simon Tilford of the London-based Centre for European Reform in a research note last week.

  • EU ministers discuss influx of migrants
    Voice of America, 12 May 2011

    Hugo Brady, a Brussels-based analyst for the think-tank Centre for European Reform, says French and Italian leaders who urged toughening Schengen are in a political bind - in part because of the rise of far-right, anti-immigration parties. But Brady doubts border-free travel in Europe will be scrapped. "The practicalities of the everyday won't allow for it ... People value the convenience of being able to travel around Europe without a passport. It's a significant achievement that I think very few people will want to roll back."