Press quotes

  • UK austerity v US stimulus: Divide deepens as eurozone cuts continue
    The Guardian, 14 February 2012

    "More people are openly questioning the economic logic of fiscal austerity at a time of pronounced private-sector weakness. The spectre of Greece and Portugal is putting advocates of the current strategy on the defensive," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER.

  • What if this was the easy part?
    New York Times, 13 February 2012

    "The IMF has never approached a country like this," said Simon Tilford of the CER. "With this much austerity, it would always have a huge devaluation, too." But Greece cannot devalue its currency because it uses the euro, so "Greece has been asked to do something the IMF has never asked another country to do."

  • We have to own up on the UK economy – we are not a big club anymore
    The Guardian, 12 February 2012

    As Simon Tilford of the CER has noted, as a share of its economy Italy's manufacturing sector is as big as Germany's, while France's industrial base is as small as Britain's.

  • Greek parliament passes austerity plan as riots rage
    The New York Times, 12 February 2012

    "They're trying to lay the ground for it, trying to limit the contagion from it," said Simon Tilford of the CER. Still, he added, letting Greece go would set a dangerous precedent, and it would be "fanciful" to think otherwise.

  • 16 'angry parents' lecture Greece
    The Wall Street Journal, 11 February 2012

    Charles Grant, director of the CER, says he has believed for some time that Greece would leave the euro because there is no political will to enact the changes needed to keep it in. While he acknowledged the growing notion that a Greek exit wouldn't have serious repercussions for any other country, he said, "nobody can be quite sure."

  • Greece makes deal with banks, cuts wages to get debt relief
    USA Today, 10 February 2012

    "What they are actually discussing is nowhere near enough," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the CER in London. "Six months down the line, there will have to be another big haircut, and again and again, it will take years."

  • The Greek debt conundrum, explained
    The Christian Science Monitor, 10 February 2012

    "Greece is trying to massively reduce its public borrowing without anything to offset these measures, like [devaluing] the currency," says Simon Tilford of the CER. "So the cuts in spending become self-defeating because the economy is contracting faster than they can implement cuts."

  • Between lots of rocks and hard places: Greece's bad options
    Time, 07 February 2012

    "There is now broad agreement among eurozone donors and the IMF that Greece will not be able to squeeze more revenue out of an economy that is in its fourth year of recession," wrote Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the CER in a recent assessment.

  • Russia defends Syria at UN - Part of an anti-western foreign policy?
    Voice of Russia, 07 February 2012

    James Reinl hosts a debate for VOR London with Aleksandr Nekrasov, Edward Burke, CER and Israel Shamir on Russia's protection of Syria's government in the UN Security Council, and asks whether Moscow simply has a knee-jerk reaction against Western policy goals.

  • Austria far right leader hurt by "new Jews" comment
    Reuters, 06 February 2012

    Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the CER, noted Strache's push to stop sending money to Brussels, hold referendums on rescue packages and create a two-speed eurozone resonates well with EU-skeptic Austrians.