Press quotes

  • Europe's protest parties on the march
    The Guardian, 01 March 2013

    "Voters now associate structural reforms with slump, rising unemployment and social stress," said Charles Grant and Simon Tilford of the CER in a paper published on Friday. "The Berlin-Brussels-Frankfurt consensus on austerity that Monti's government [pursued] has discredited the very reforms that are needed to boost the Italian economy."

  • EU strikes deal to cap banker bonuses
    Reuters, 28 February 2013

    "This could push British political opinion and opinion in the City of London several notches more hostile to the EU than it is already," said Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a think tank.

  • Denmark is the easiest place in the EU to do business
    Information, 28 February 2013

    "It's complicated," said Simon Tilford, of the CER. "Germany, for example, has a relatively high corporate tax rate, but has very generous deductions, so the real picture is more nuanced." 

  • Italy turmoil raises questions about ECB backstop
    Associated Press, 27 February 2013

    "Basically investors are taking this on faith," said Simon Tilford of the CER. ..."It would be very hard for the ECB to wade into the market and buy substantial quantities of Italian debt if there is political gridlock in Italy and a broad based rebellion against the austerity strategy," Tilford warns.

  • Are Italian voters right that austerity isn't working?
    The Christian Science Monitor, 27 February 2013

    "Cutting public spending in a downturn is always risky, but it is especially so when all of Europe is tightening fiscal policy at the same time. The principal reason why public deficits have risen across Europe is because private sector demand has contracted sharply," says Simon Tilford of the CER.

  • Uncertain election results rekindle euro crisis fears
    The Wall Street Journal, 26 February 2013

    Democracy "is the eurozone's Achilles' heel," said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform. ..."The euro isn't safe until growth returns in Southern Europe," Mr Grant said.

  • Election deadlock raises fears of new crisis in recently calmer eurozone
    The Washington Post, 26 February 2013

    "The politics of the current strategy for coping with the eurozone are looking increasingly fraught and unworkable,” said Simon Tilford of the CER. "On a positive note, if it leads to a rethinking of this approach, then it could be positive for the future of the currency union," he added.

  • This euroscpetic isle
    BBC Radio 4, 25 February 2013

    Charles Grant talks to James Landale about business and rising euroscepeticism in Britain (from 13.39 - 14.29).

  • Little clarity in Italian vote aside from anger
    The New York Times, 25 February 2013

    "No doubt Italy has an imperfect political culture, but this election I think is the logical consequence of pursuing policies that have dramatically worsened the economic and social picture in Italy," said Simon Tilford of the CER.

  • EU-US trade talks promise both prizes and pitfalls
    Reuters, 18 February 2013

    So even if the goodwill exists to park such issues in the sidings [the EU's reluctance to lower its guard against US biotech food such as genetically modified plants or hormone-fed beef], agriculture still has the potential to poison the talks, said Philip Whyte of the CER, a think-tank in London.