Press
EU sticking to tried and tested approach to Brexit talks
15 January 2020
Encompass
Boris Johnson, fresh from a resounding election victory, is determined to avoid extending the post-Brexit transition period and agree a new partnership with the European Union by the end of the year.
Quotation of the day: Europe gambles it can save nuclear deal with threat to kill it
15 January 2020
The New York Times
“If you have nuclear weapons you can get love letters from the president, and if you don’t, your generals can get killed.”IAN BOND, the director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, on why he believes Iran will accelerate its nuclear program.
CER podcast: Can Europe overcome its paralysis on Palestine?
15 January 2020
The EU has struggled to take decisive action on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Should the UK introduce a border carbon adjustment mechanism?
14 January 2020
The zero carbon campaign
A stronger carbon price is a pre-requisite for the UK achieving a 68 per cent drop in emissions by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050.
Demography could be yet another force for divergence within the EU
11 January 2020
The Economist
Research by the Centre for European Reform suggests that less successful places tend to be older and less productive. The EU has a pot of money to ensure “cohesion”, but it is small and less equipped than national budgets to redistribute from winners to losers.
Meanwhile in US talks
10 January 2020
Politico London Playbook
Sam Lowe, Twitter trade expert and Centre for European Reform senior research fellow, says such a stance makes the chances of concluding a comprehensive free-trade agreement with the US in the near future very low. He suggests the UK government should launch a review and turn the whole thing into a process. Sounds very Yes Minister.
Boris Johnson faces his own Iranian nightmare
07 January 2020
Bloomberg
“The problem for the UK now is that it doesn’t want to be isolated,” says Ian Bond, a former British diplomat who’s director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform. “In economic terms, Boris Johnson is looking for a quick something that he can announce on trade with Trump, even if it would be meaningless and there will be a lot of problematic areas. If he offends Trump he’s less likely to get it.”
Brexit is nearly done, but don't expect an easy ride on trade. The EU is terrified of regulatory divergence
07 January 2020
The Telegraph
But equally, says Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, the EU is terrified of granting favoured access to its markets without any kind of commitment to stay true to European standards and regulations.
Decisive UK election result cheers companies: PMIs
06 January 2020
Reuters
“I would be surprised if optimism is sustained, unless Boris Johnson extends (the) transition (or) finds ways to deepen the trade agreement,” John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said of the PMI.
Britain’s priority: Overcoming European growth lag
04 January 2020
OMFIF
As Charles Grant from the Centre for European Reform has written, achieving a free trade agreement in 10 months is unusually quick: normally it takes the EU five to seven years to negotiate an FTA. As recent as July 2017, after May’s disastrous decision to call a June 2017 general election, UK ministers were suggesting a new trade accord could come into effect in summer 2022.
UK braced for fall out as Iranians vow 'severe revenge' for drone killing
03 January 2020
The Scotsman
Middle East experts also warned of retaliations following the US strike. Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Centre for European Reform, called the air strike a “big escalation” by Mr Trump and a “a lawless step that increases risk to US and allies”.
‘A more dangerous world’: US killing of Iran's Soleimani stokes fears of regional conflict
03 January 2020
France 24
As Ian Bond, the director of foreign policy at the London-based Centre for European Reform, argued in a Twitter post, targeting non-state terrorists such as al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden or the Islamic State (IS) group’s Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is “very different from killing a senior official of an internationally-recognised state”. The brazen strike marked a “big escalation by Trump, & a lawless step that increases risk to US & allies,” Bond added.
UK at risk after Iran General Qasem Soleimani is killed by US airstrike, experts warn
03 January 2020
The Evening Standard
Ian Bond, foreign policy director at the Centre for European Reform, said on Twitter the airstrike was a "big escalation" by Mr Trump. He added: "No doubt #Soleimani was very bad actor, with much blood on his hands. "But killing non-state terrorists eg [al-Qaida founder Osama] bin Laden or [so-called Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-] Baghdadi very different from killing senior official of internationally-recognised state.
US killing of Iran’s top commander unnerves allies, dims hopes Iran nuclear deal can be saved
03 January 2020
The Washington Post
Major additional Iranian violations of the deal “would push the Europeans, whether they like it or not, towards a harder stance on Iran, which might ultimately lead to more alignment with Washington,” said Luigi Scazzieri, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank.