Press quotes

  • Medvedev warns US over missile shield plan
    Financial Times, 23 November 2011

    According to Tomas Valasek of the CER, the new element in Mr Medvedev’s comments is his threat to sabotage the US-Russia arms control process. "Mr Medvedev seems to be taking the debate on missile defence into the strategic realm of US-Russia arms control."

  • Europe's options: Few, and shrinking
    The Wall Street Journal, 22 November 2011

    "Europe is staring at a lost decade," says Simon Tilford, of the CER. Years of economic stagnation with persistent fears of sovereign and banking-sector defaults "will have a considerable impact on the broader international economy," he says.

  • Neo-Calvinists and the euro crisis
    The New York Times, 22 November 2011

    Paul Krugman says "A very good essay by the CER warn(s) of the consequences of relying on the North European interpretation of the eurozone crisis”, which essentially sees the crisis as a morality tale, pitting those who sinned against those who stuck to the path of virtue.

  • Angela Merkel: Europe's saviour – or biggest problem?
    The Guardian, 22 November 2011

    Merkel's greatest failing, says Charles Grant, of the pro-European think-tank the CER, is that she's either unwilling or unable to question prevailing German orthodoxies. "Truly great political leaders, real statesmen – they can change the weather," Grant says.

  • Spain - the fifth victim to fall in Europe's arc of depression
    The Telegraph, 20 November 2011

    Philip Whyte and Simon Tilford argue in a paper for the CER that "the eurozone crisis is as much a tale of excess bank leverage and poor risk management in the core as of excess consumption and wasteful investment in the periphery."

  • En la crisis de la deuda fija las pautas e impone la austeridad: Alemania manda
    El Pais, 20 November 2011

    "Los alemanes, con frecuencia, no aprecian lo suficiente cuán desgarradores son los cambios económicos que ellos recetan", dijo Philip Whyte, uno de los principales investigadores del CER, con sede en Londres.

  • Change course Germany, or risk eurozone collapse
    Channel 4 News, 18 November 2011

    Philip Whyte, senior research fellow at the pro-European CER told Channel 4 News: "The ECB has engaged in government bond purchasing, but has signalled its reluctance to do so. The financial markets have never believed the ECB is behind this."

  • Eurozone crisis: live blog
    Financial Times, 17 November 2011

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER, belives that Germany is becoming increasing isolated. "The French government, shaken by the rise in its borrowing costs, is becoming more openly critical of Germany’s refusal to support more concerted ECB action to stabilise the markets.

  • Germany holds key to eurozone rebalancing
    Reuters, 17 November 2011

    In a pamphlet [Why stricter rules threaten the eurozone] released last week, the CER, a think tank in London, advocated an inflation target of 3 percent with inflation allowed to deviate by 1 percentage point in each direction.

  • No common bond
    United Press International, 17 November 2011

    "The Germans have been able to rely on the French, the Dutch and the Austrians. But if they get dragged into this and their borrowing costs continue to rise, that could influence whether they continue to back Germany and the line taken on the eurozone crisis," said chief economist Simon Tilford at the CER.