Press
If you liked Brexit, you’re going to love what the Conservatives want next
03 October 2025
The Guardian
Along with the movement of goods and people, services – Britain’s biggest export category – are severely restricted by the time limit. Take Rolls-Royce: it doesn’t just sell engines, but services planes, too, sending engineers back and forth across the English Channel all the time, says John Springford of the Centre for European Reform. He lists consultants and accountants going back and forth to clients in the Schengen area, as well as UK events companies transporting performers and orchestras to venues around Europe. He says they are losing out massively to EU operators. Nothing can bring back lost trade except rejoining the customs union and the single market, he adds.
Hit by Trump tariffs, rest of world races to forge new trade alliances
01 October 2025
Reuters
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, said Europe could lead a 'rest of the band' group, but noted that it and others such as Japan ran trade surpluses and so needed buyers, not more sellers."The challenge is enormous," he said. "The US has long constituted about 50% of global trade deficits, acting as a key source of incremental demand for global exports."
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: EU trade policy after Trump
01 October 2025
Aslak Berg and Agathe Demarais discuss EU trade policy after Trump.
Germany thrived in the first China Shock. But the next one could prove catastrophic
30 September 2025
NPR
Sander Tordoir, an economist at the Centre for European Reform, a think tank, says a big reason was that China's export boom back then was in low-end manufactured products like textiles, toys, consumer electronics, and furniture, "not in the industries that are the hallmark of the German economy, namely autos, chemicals, and machines."
Rachel Reeves will struggle to sell growth case to UK fiscal watchdog, economists warn
29 September 2025
Financial Times
Previous analysis by John Springford, associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform, suggested that an EU mobility scheme could be one of the more significant elements of a UK-EU “reset”, but only if it was an “expansive” scheme of the kind Brussels had pushed for.
Ukraine without America
20 September 2025
Financial Times
Whether or not Europe is able to provide a big load of cash, it needs to be much more robust in its support of Ukraine, says Ian Bond in this trenchantly argued piece for the Centre for European Reform. Bond says European leaders need to face up to the facts: Trump shows deference to Putin and will not pressure him to end the war; Putin is determined to fight on and will never accept an effective security guarantee for Ukraine; and the US is reluctant to help the Europeans provide one.
CER Podcast: Unpacking Europe: One year after the Draghi report
19 September 2025
Aslak Berg, Elisabetta Cornago and Sander Tordoir discuss where the EU stands one year after the landmark Draghi report.
Is NATO ready for drone warfare?
18 September 2025
Deutsche Welle
"We need to learn from the Ukrainians," Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER), told DW. "They have a pretty high success rate in bringing down Russian drones, and, if they have the technology to do it, we need to acquire it and copy it."
Starmer, Meloni or even Putin - who is the real Trump whisperer?
17 September 2025
iNews
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank, said: “I’m not sure that you can have a strategy for dealing with Trump, because Trump himself is not strategic.“What you can have is tactics and flattery clearly works for as long as it works.
Player or playground? Europe sidelined again as rivals US and China cut deals on its soil
16 September 2025
South China Morning Post
“It’s striking that Washington and Beijing are ironing out their trade disputes on European soil, while Europe itself is largely sidelined,” Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, said.“The two superpowers are playing on Europe’s pitch – but Europe isn’t even in the game in some ways.”
Europe's socialists to exclude Fico's Smer party in October
16 September 2025
EurActiv
“It’s unlikely to have any impact in Slovakia,” said Anton Spisak, from the Centre for European Reform think-tank, of the decision to expel the party from the group. “Fico has positioned himself as an opponent of the EU mainstream, and none of his voters will be bothered by this decision.”“If anything, this decision is long overdue”, said Spisak.
Why Trump's letter to NATO won't shift EU's course on Russia
15 September 2025
Deutsche Welle
Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, sees a gap between Trump's rhetoric and his actions. "The EU has dramatically reduced its reliance on Russian oil and gas," he told DW.
Tror Putin bløffer: - Har begrenset seg
13 September 2025
Dagbladet
Vi pleier å gjøre Russland tre meter høyt, og alle andre én meter høye. Men Europa har mye større økonomi, industri og befolkning. Det vi trenger er vilje til å omsette dette til militærmakt nok til å avskrekke Russland, sier Ian Bond, visedirektør for den anerkjente tankesmia Centre for European Reform, og tidligere britisk ambassadør til Latvia, til Dagbladet.
Waarom de investering van ASML in AI-bedrijf Mistral 'knetterstrategisch' is
12 September 2025
Het Financieele Dagblad
En bovendien, ‘zonder risico’s kan Europa een soevereine techsector sowieso vergeten’, zegt Sander Tordoir, econoom van de denktank CER. ‘In dat licht is ASML’s stap ook een signaal aan andere Europese reuzen om in kleinere Europese bedrijven te durven investeren.’
The Jolt: Climate and energy overshadowed in State of the EU address
11 September 2025
Elisabetta Cornago from the Centre for European Reform joins The Jolt to discuss what it revealed about upcoming climate and energy policy, as well as the global trends that overshadow these.
“On one hand, I think she's trying to make the case for a European industrial grand plan that covers both clean tech...
“On one hand, I think she's trying to make the case for a European industrial grand plan that covers both clean tech...
Europe drags its heels on Draghi plan as global rivals surge
10 September 2025
Financial Times
For Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, simplification is a sideshow rather than the main medication. “You can have a bonfire of regulations and if you have none of the other policies Draghi recommended . . . nothing is going to happen.”
Warum die Union das Verbrenner-Aus kippen will
10 September 2025
Der Spiegel
Sander Tordoir, Chefökonom beim Thinktank Centre for European Reform, hält die Debatte über das Verbrennerverbot für irreführend und schlägt eine andere Maßnahme vor, um auf die strukturelle Krise der Industrie zu reagieren. »Deutschland, Europas am stärksten autozentrierte Wirtschaft, sollte seine Kaufprämien für E-Autos wieder einführen«, sagt Tordoir. Deren Abschaffung nennt er »Selbstgeißelung«.
Mistral emerges as last, best hope for European AI contender
09 September 2025
Bloomberg
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, echoed this thought, describing the move as “a bet on the future of a sovereign tech ecosystem.”
How to modernise Europe’s power grids to deal with renewables and increased demand?
08 September 2025
The Economist Cafe Europa
How to modernise Europe’s power grids to deal with renewables and increased demand? The technical issues are shockingly complicated and the politics are polarised. This paper from John Springford, of the Centre for European Reform, explains that more European trade in electricity could amp up production and dial down prices. But trading electricity across borders encounters resistance from some national governments: while it lowers prices overall for Europeans, it may raise prices locally. Mr Springford calls for conducting the gains from trade back to consumers so they can see how they benefit.
Bloomberg - The Pulse: Draghi report a year on
05 September 2025
Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the CER spoke to The Pulse one year on from the Draghi report (from 16:12 mins).