Press quotes

  • A euro break-up is hard – but not impossible
    The Sunday Times, 13 November 2011

    It is clear that the eurozone will remain an unstable, crisis-prone arrangement unless critical steps are taken to place it on a more sustainable institutional footing," write Simon Tilford and Philp Whyte in a hard-hitting essay for the pro-EU CER.

  • These bailouts aren't democracy. What's worse, they aren't even a rescue
    The Observer, 13 November 2011

    In a CER Simon Tilford and Philip Whyte said: "The punishing (and self-defeating) economic adjustments imposed on debtor countries contrasts with the self-righteous complacency shown in the creditor countries."

  • Even as governments act, time runs short for euro
    The New York Times, 13 November 2011

    "I think we're in very dangerous territory, and the euro zone has to act soon," said Simon Tilford of the CER. "There isn't really a muddle-through option right now."

  • The bonds that tie Italy down may destroy crisis-hit euro
    The Irish Independent, 13 November 2011

     "It is now clear that a currency shared by fiscally sovereign member-states is more vulnerable to losses of confidence than a monetary union that is more fully integrated," said the CER in a paper published last week.

  • On the record
    The New York Times, 13 November 2011

    "Not everyone can be like Germany. The world as a whole doesn't trade with the moon," said Philip Whyte of the CER, on other countries' resentment as Germany dictates austerity measures that its own robust economy does not require.

  • Lifeboats out as EU flounders
    The Age, 12 November 2011

    The Greek economy is in free fall, having contracted 15 per cent under existing austerity measures, said Simon Tilford, chief economist with the CER in London. ... ''Its economy is three times as big as the Irish, Greek and Portuguese economies put together,'' said Mr Tilford.

  • The week the euro went up in flames
    The Telegraph, 12 November 2011

    As Simon Tilford and Philip Whyte put it last week in an essay for the CER: "A familiar pattern has now set in. Under market duress, leaders hold an emergency summit and announce an agreement designed to restore confidence once and for all."

  • Dream of United Europe frays at the edges
    Sydney Morning Herald, 12 November 2011

    "The Greek economy is in free fall, having contracted 15 per cent under existing austerity measures", says Simon Tilford, the chief economist with the CER in London.

  • Anti-EU backlash - Beyond the fringe
    The Economist, 11 November 2011

    "Public opinion is a new actor in the EU," says Charles Grant, director of the CER. "It limits what technocrats can do."

  • Europe's growth forecast is lowered
    The New York Times, 11 November 2011

    "The slowdown in economic activity is compounding investors' concerns about debt sustainability," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER in London. "In the south of Europe we have very high borrowing costs and no economic growth. That's a lethal combination."