Press
UK exporters falling foul of post-Brexit trade rules
25 October 2021
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank, said that a further deterioration in EU-UK political relations following strains over Northern Ireland could trigger some governments in the bloc to take a tougher approach. “In practical terms, if the EU steps up enforcement, it becomes a way of imposing tariffs on UK exports,” he added.
New Zealand trade deal 'another nail in the coffin' of UK mussels industry
22 October 2021
The Telegraph
Trade expert Sam Lowe, of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said, “The real problem isn’t so much the additional competition from some islands on the other side of the world, rather that it is happening at the same time as them being closed out of selling to their biggest export market.”
A new German economic era dawns as the Bundesbank changes guard
22 October 2021
Financial Times
Global tensions have convinced politicians that an economically strong and united Europe is more important than a balanced budget.
Jens Weidmann steps down from the Bundesbank
20 October 2021
The Economist
“A new head of the Bundesbank willing to take on Germany’s conservative consensus would help give the ECB cover in the critical months ahead,” says Christian Odendahl of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank in Berlin.
UK reaches agreement on New Zealand trade deal
20 October 2021
Financial Times
Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said the deal should be judged on its strategic aims. “The benefits of this deal are less about the economics, which are negligible and more about the signal it sends about the UK’s intentions in the region, and as a stepping stone towards a big push for CPTPP accession next year.”
New Zealand agrees post-Brexit free trade deal with UK to cut export tariffs
20 October 2021
iNews
Trade expert Sam Lowe, of the Centre for European Reform, said the small size of New Zealand meant that the overall benefit to the UK’s economy would be small. He told i: “It’s a politically significant agreement but not an economically significant one, although of course there will be some firms that benefit from it.”
CNBC: Impression by how smoothly coalition talks advancing
18 October 2021
"The Finance Minister has become the most important position in government after the Chancellor...The national interest of Germany will shape Christian Lindner more than Christian Lindner will shape the Finance Ministry," Christian Odendahl, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform told CNBC.
On defence, the ball is in Europe's court
18 October 2021
Encompass
This summer’s US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent announcement of the AUKUS submarine deal should show Europeans three things.
Gig jobs: Lyfts to wages make it tougher for platforms to Deliveroo
17 October 2021
Today UK News
Industry consolidation is under way in Europe, with half of gig earnings stemming from the five biggest platforms, according to the Centre for European Reform. Wage inflation could accelerate the process by forcing weaker competitors out. If so, expect more protests from gig workers. The pressure for politicians to intervene will rise.
Brexit y pandemia, tormenta perfecta en Reino Unido
15 October 2021
El Universal
Para Camino Mortera, investigadora del Centre for European Reform, con sede en Londres, el culpable es el Brexit. “Es una combinación desafortunada entre el Brexit y la pandemia, pero si tuviera que escoger un porcentaje diría que es 70% y 30%. Esto es bastante comprobable cuando uno compara la situación en el Reino Unido con la del resto de Europa”, dice Mortera a EL UNIVERSAL.
Pandora's box
15 October 2021
Financial Times
The Brexit deal has the potential to open a Pandora’s box on market access. In future trade deals, the EU may need to offer more access to other countries, particularly for food products, argues Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform in this policy brief.
CER podcast: Europe's gas crisis heats up
14 October 2021
Christian Odendahl speaks to Ian Bond, Elisabetta Cornago and Zach Meyers about Europe’s current gas crisis.
Italy: Fresh pandemic woes for those jabbed with ‘wrong’ vaccines
14 October 2021
Aljazeera
“I think the situation that people in Italy are facing at the moment is basically a choice of Italy to go down this route, and not the choice of the European Union,” said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a lawyer researching the Green Pass and freedom of movement at the Centre for European Reform in Brussels.
Brexit: 'Frosty the no man' to turn heat up on EU in Lisbon
12 October 2021
City A.M
Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at The Centre for European Reform think tank, said Frost’s expected statements on the ECJ’s role overseeing the treaty have come from left field.
“The fear is that Frost is just adding things to his list of things to be upset about so as to ensure the EU can never properly satisfy the UK’s demands so he can keep this argument rolling on,” he said.
“The fear is that Frost is just adding things to his list of things to be upset about so as to ensure the EU can never properly satisfy the UK’s demands so he can keep this argument rolling on,” he said.
EU unity faces fresh test in Northern Ireland Brexit row
10 October 2021
Politico
“The root of the problem, in a way, is the very bad state of the British-French relationship,” said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank. “It is so bad that it makes the French quite unwilling to help the British at all on Brexit issues. And the French of course are very influential on the EU institutions.” Grant argued that if the UK “started to get serious about diplomacy” and tried to “behave better and make some friends in Europe, then there would be a threat to unity because not everybody would want to follow the hard line that the French are taking.”
It was jam tomorrow at the Tory party conference, at least according to Liz Truss
09 October 2021
The Telegraph
Over at a fringe meeting held by the Centre for European Reform, business minister Greg Hands proffered an interesting theory on why we will probably never rejoin the EU. By the time of the next election, he argued, we will have joined the Pacific free trade zone CPTPP and have trade deals with Australia, New Zealand and potentially India and maybe even the US (keep dreaming). “It’s very difficult to see how either rejoining the EU, the customs union or the single market would be compatible,” he said. This assumes, of course, that all of the deals will result in large new trade flows.
Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson lost je ne sais quoi over Brexit and Biden
09 October 2021
The Times
French sources say that even if Macron wins in April he is in no rush to try and build fences with London and will expect the overture to come from Johnson. This a view shared by Charles Grant, the head of the centre for European Reform, who hosted Macron in London when his presidential ambition was still in its infancy.
Smart reads: Transatlantic blues
08 October 2021
Financial Times
The withdrawal from Afghanistan and US’s surprise defence deal with Australia and the UK show that the tensions in transatlantic relations raised during the Trump presidency essentially remain the same under Joe Biden, writes the Centre for European Reform.
Laschet diz que CDU precisa de “novo começo”
07 October 2021
Publico
O economista do Centre for European Reform Christian Odendahl fazia uma comparação entre os caminhos dos conservadores, por um lado, e dos participantes nas conversações para uma coligação, por outro. “As conversações ‘semáforo’ entre o SPD, Verdes e FDP estão a correr sem percalços, embora ainda haja grandes diferenças a colmatar.
Brexit's no quick fix for higher wages and better skills
06 October 2021
The Independent
"It’s also not necessarily low skilled. It can be about soft skills, knowing how to engage with someone in emotional distress, being a good communicator,” says John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. “Having a lot of low skilled migrants coming into a sector like social might depress wages slightly but it might also dramatically improve older people’s experience of care.”