Press quotes

  • Germany supports the Government and believes that the 29th March should not stop it
    La Vanguardia, 01 April 2012

    "Investors are gradually concluding that Spain is not on the verge of a soft recession but a real crash" notes Simon Tilford, chief economist of the CER. "Spain is being asked to do the impossible, something no other comparable country has ever managed.

  • Punishment of the model student
    La Vanguardia, 01 April 2012

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER, says "There is risk that many of the good things that occurred in Spain in the run-up to the crisis are now being overlooked, much as in the case of Ireland, whose pre-crisis growth story is now portrayed as now more than a property bubble".

  • Europe ministers reach deal on trillion-dollar 'firewall'
    Voice of America, 30 March 2012

    Simon Tilford is chief economist at the CER. He says Europe's reaction to its economic crisis is not working. What is needed, he says, is a federalized system where resources cross borders more freely.

  • Spanish workers protest labour reforms
    Voice of America, 29 March 2012

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER in London, said austerity measures in Spain, like elsewhere, will not solve its economic problems. "What's worrying about what we are seeing is that very little seems to have been learned from what happened in Greece and Ireland and Portugal," he said.

  • EU's working time directive
    BBC Newsnight, 28 March 2012

    Simon Tilford of the CER argued that the proposed amendments to the EU’s working time directive are unnecessary, but that their impact on UK businesses will be limited and the British government should reserve its firepower for more important issues.

  • Companies hoard cash, damping growth
    The Wall Street Journal, 22 March 2012

    According to Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER, the ratio of investment to gross domestic product in Europe is at a 60-year low even as companies pile on cash. Corporate cash holdings are now €2 trillion ($2.64 trillion) across the eurozone and an extraordinary £750 billion ($1.19 trillion) in the UK.

  • Economists: Europe stuck on bailout merry-go-round
    The Guardian, 22 March 2012

    "There's a real risk that the Spanish economy will get caught in a downward spiral and need a bailout," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER.

  • On aviation and climate, the EU must stick to its route
    European Voice, 15 March 2012

    Charles Grant, the director of the CER, a think-tank, could hardly have timed better his pamphlet on "Russia, China and global governance", published at the end of last month.

  • Europe to Germany: Your eurocrisis 'answers' don't work for us
    The Christian Science Monitor, 14 March 2012

    "The German answer so far is to revise previous rules to make stricter rules," says Philip Whyte of the  CER. "Rules may help in the long term, but there's an immediate crisis in households and nations. Germans are sincere in the belief that Italy and Spain will benefit from reform.

  • In a first, Europeans act to suspend aid to Hungary unless it cuts deficit
    The New York Times, 13 March 2012

    "The decision to take a somewhat tougher line with Hungary, by threatening to suspend cohesion funds, is not a case of double standards," said Simon Tilford, the chief economist at the CER. "The Spanish have not been guilty of mismanaging their economy, whereas that can hardly be said of Hungary."