Press quotes

  • Germany: Responsible for Europe's crisis?
    Global Post, 19 March 2010

    "Germans think they have been prudent, they say that Greeks and others should take a leaf out of their book," said Simon Tilford of the Centre for European Reform in London. "They are nonplussed when others don't buy into it. But, it's almost impossible to get the economy growing unless you get exports to Germany."

  • Euro laggards risk stagnation, deflation
    CNBC, 18 March 2010

    The CER's Charles Grant told reporters that the countries ignored advice from the European Union's executive to overhaul their economies by making labour markets more flexible and knocking down barriers that protect some businesses or sectors from rivalry. If the four nations had been "better pupils and swallowed the medicine, they wouldn't be in the trouble they are today," Grant said.

  • Greece to seek details on loans from Europe
    New York Times, 18 March 2010

    Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, said that the euro zone leaders had "done enough to reassure the markets for a little while," but that "they are going to have to clarify things at some point. The idea that the crisis has been overcome is wishful thinking."

  • Merkel floats option of euro zone expulsion
    The Wall Street Journal, 18 March 2010

    "I don't see such a treaty change ever being agreed," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, a London think-tank. "Other member states will not accede to this in the absence of any recognition on the part of the Germans that they will need to amend their economic strategy if the stability of the euro zone is not to be compromised."

  • European fight won't be Conservative priority
    Reuters, 17 March 2010

    "They will believe the economy is their priority. They won't want Europe as an issue to distract energy and attention and time," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank.

  • 'Sinister' German spy plan aimed at Hedge Funds, analysts say
    Bloomberg Business Week, 17 March 2010

    "I find it sinister and silly, it is a complete overreaction," said Philip Whyte of the Centre for European Reform, a pro-European Union research institute in London. "There is a certain school of thought in continental Europe that everything is always the fault of hedge funds." Schaeuble's comments reflected "a longstanding paranoia about the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism."

  • Baroness Ashton faces first big international test with Middle East trip
    The Times, 15 March 2010

    "She will not solve the peace process on her first flying visit," said Hugo Brady, of the Centre for European Reform. "The full glare of the international media is on her now to see if she will make any mistakes but she simply has to show that she is an engaged player and not create a vacuum for criticism to flow into. The EU has yet to realise its full potential for influence in that part of the world and it should have some extra weight for all the money it is pouring in."

  • An interview with Nick Clegg
    The Economist, 11 March 2010

    It has gone really surprisingly well, for the simple reason that it is so relentlessly targeted on this perennial problem that has bedevilled British education for so long for generations, which is the link between social deprivation and educational underperformance, a link which is pretty well stronger than almost anywhere else in Europe. I would like to think people also recognise this is not something I have just alighted on out of nowhere; I first wrote or co-authored a pamphlet about this for the Centre for European Reform. … some nine years ago.

  • EU prepares in case Greek woes spread to Spain
    Reuters, 11 March 2010

    "Unless we see more focus on growth and a less obsessive focus on stability, I think there will be trouble. You are not going to have stability without growth," said Simon Tilford of the London-based Centre for European Reform think tank. "It will be hard to get Spanish people to acquiesce to austerity measures. It's going to be a tough sell."

  • Greece seeks US help regulating speculators
    The Washington Post, 09 March 2010

    "The concern over speculation is obscuring the underlying issue that Greece and other nations have very precarious fiscal positions," said Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform.