Press quotes

  • Eurozone rescue row doesn't shake German view
    Reuters, 18 November 2010

    "Taken out of context there is obviously merit to the Franco-German proposal. But the timing could not have been more damaging," wrote Simon Tilford, chief economist of the Centre for European Reform.

  • Barack Obama, tell us that we're special
    The Guardian, 17 November 2010

    This disconnect has a broader geopolitical context. Styling himself America's "Pacific president", Obama appears fixated on the rising stars of Asia, principally China and India, and on Russia's continuing leverage, argued Tomas Valasek in a paper for the Centre for European Reform.

  • Transport ministry looks to Asia
    The Prague Post, 17 November 2010

    "When it comes down to imported goods, it's much easier to draw a link between very low prices and the implicit subsidy," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, who added that much of China's subsidies come in the form of its enormous currency reserves, which keep the yuan at artificial lows. But civil engineering projects abroad are trickier when it comes to proving state help, especially since the firms must largely rely on local labour and resources...

  • Uncertain destination of Atlantic journey
    Financial Times, 17 November 2010

    Clara Marina O’Donnell, a defence expert at the Centre for European Reform, says European cuts are so serious that they make this week's summit look like "a surrealist play". She notes that Nato's new "strategic concept" will set out fresh ambitions for the alliance to deal with cyberwarfare, missile defence and terrorism, "yet in Europe, the very resources to deal with those threats are being cut back hugely". There are hopes that two new European Union directives setting out competition rules in defence procurement will reform the sector.

  • As Ireland flounders the EU moves towards a bailout
    Time, 17 November 2010

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform, says that unless the EU intervenes, investors will believe that default is inevitable and demand correspondingly punitive interest rates. "Contagion to other member states will be all but inevitable," he says. "If, and when, it reaches Spain, the crisis risks spiraling out of control."

  • Climate change set to cause migrant surge
    CNN, 17 November 2010

    First societies must become strong enough to cope with newcomers, according to Hugo Brady, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. "It's disingenuous to say business needs migrants and we're all getting older so it'll all be fine. It skips over the fact that it doesn't follow that we can solve our demographic problems with lots of immigration. And it ignores the fact that our societies need to be set up for that. I'd be sceptical that societies could absorb immigration on the scale suggested by our demographics.

  • Eurozone plans possible Irish bailout
    Radio Free Europe, 17 November 2010

    Simon Tilford, the chief economist for the London-based Centre for European Reform, says a request from Ireland for other eurozone members to stabilise the Irish banking sector essentially amounts to support for the Irish state budget: "Investors have started to shun Irish government debt because they are worried about the [possible] liabilities in the country's banking sector - because the Irish government has essentially underwritten the debts of the private banks," Tilford explains.

  • Eurozone seeks way out of Irish debt crisis
    Business Standard, 16 November 2010

    "Unless the EU changes track and agrees to make the EFSF (rescue fund) permanent and the ECB steps up its purchases of the hard-hit countries' government bonds, investors will believe that default is inevitable and demand correspondingly punitive interest rates," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the London-based Centre for European Reform. "Contagion to other member-states will be all but inevitable. If, and when, it reaches Spain, the crisis risks spiralling out of control," he said.

  • Lisbon falls flat
    Newsweek, 15 November 2010

    "The Europeans need to realise that if they want to be taken seriously, then they have to be relevant," says Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, a London think tank.

  • Herman Van Rompuy: The man who wants to control your finances
    The Telegraph, 15 November 2010

    Since coming to power, Cameron has been mending fences with Merkel and Sarkozy, after his provocative decision in opposition to stop sitting with their parties in the European Parliament. Adopting Persson’s advice to "play politics" with economic governance, an issue that affects the eurozone more than Britain, would "antagonise" our partners all over again, says Katinka Barysch, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. It would also, she says, "damage Britain's own interests.