The EU has for years been a proponent of better regulation: steps to make sure regulation is evidence-based, proportionate, and made in a transparent way. However, there has been a perception that the quality of regulation in the bloc has declined recently. To discuss the EU's performance on better regulation and what the next Commission might impr…

Globalisation may not have gone into reverse, but it is surely changing – and not in Germany’s favour. Encouraged by the US, von der Leyen wants to push ahead with the ‘economic security strategy’, which would seek to limit the export of advanced technologies to China. But Germany worries that the Commission is trying to grab new powers and that it…

As we enter the third year of full-scale war in Ukraine and the possibility of Trump's re-election becomes more likely, Charles Grant, director, and Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow, consider how the EU's role in defence is changing. They discuss where the money for a larger defence budget would come from and whether the Commission could pla…

In our latest Centre for European Reform podcast Dame Melinda Simmons, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine 2019-2023, and Hanna Shelest, Director of Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism, join the CER's Deputy Director, Ian Bond, on the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They examine…

In our latest Centre for European Reform podcast, Camille Grand, Distinguished Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and Luigi Scazzieri, Senior Research Fellow at the CER, speak to podcast host Octavia Hughes about the challenges of European defence production. They examine the challenges Europeans have faced in ramping up def…

In our latest Centre for European Reform podcast, Deputy Director Ian Bond speaks to Philippe Le Corre, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society's Centre for China Analysis, Helena Legarda, Lead Analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, and Christina Keßler, Clara Marina O'Donnell Fellow 2023-24. They provide some background on Taiwan's recent …

In our latest Centre for European Reform podcast, podcast host Octavia Hughes speaks to eight of our researchers. They reflect on the EU's past year from different perspectives, including climate action; support for Ukraine; UK-EU relations; and the possibility of enlargement and reform. They then look ahead to 2024.00:41 Elisabetta Cornago on ener…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Charles Grant, director at the CER, and Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the CER's Brussels office, join senior research fellow Luigi Scazzieri to discuss the prospects for EU enlargement and institutional reform.Produced by Octavia HughesMusic by Edward Hipkins…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Sander Tordoir, senior economist at the CER, and Caroline de Gruyter, author and columnist for the leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, join podcast host, Octavia Hughes, to discuss the outcome of the Dutch general election and what the surge of Geert Wilders’ far-right means for the EU. Carolin…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Zach Meyers, Assistant Director of the CER, is joined by Kai Zenner, Head of Office and digital policy advisor to MEP Axel Voss, to discuss AI’s implications for Europe. They discuss how Europe can make the most out of AI while managing its risks. The pair also discuss the progress of the EU’s Artif…

One month on from Hamas’s attack on Israel killing 1400, Israeli forces have killed more than 10000 Palestinians in Gaza. The head of our Brussels office, Camino Mortera-Martinez asks Nathalie Tocci, director of the Institute of International Affairs in Rome, and senior research fellow Luigi Scazzieri what Europe's role is in this latest iteration …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the CER Brussels office, and Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow, join podcast host, Octavia Hughes, to discuss EU enlargement, the EPC and migration policy. They set out the successes and failures of the EPC summit in Granada and the subsequent informal meeting …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Charles Grant, Director of the CER, and Neil Kinnock, leader of the Labour party 1983 - 1992, European commissioner 1995 - 2004 and member of the house of Lords since 2005, join podcast host, Octavia Hughes, to discuss a European strategy for Labour. They set out the steps the party should take to f…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Ian Bond, Director of Foreign Policy, and Hennadiy Maksak, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Prism think-tank, look at Ukraine's path to EU membership after a year and a half of war with Russia. The EU has given Ukraine candidate country status and by the end of the year, it should take a decision…

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels office and Sander Tordoir, senior economist, join our host Octavia Hughes to discuss the implications of the Spanish and Dutch elections for the EU. They explore the causes of the political impasse in Spain and the consequences of government collapse in …

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of the Brussels office, joins Charles Grant, director of the CER, and Heather Grabbe, senior advisor at the Open Society Foundation, to discuss the prospect of EU enlargement. They talk about the likely timeline of the accession process, the countries with prospects of …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Ian Bond, Director of Foreign Policy, and Luigi Scazzieri, Senior Research Fellow, sit down with podcast host, Octavia Hughes, to discuss the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. They look at Ukraine's request for NATO membership and the Alliance's response, assess whether NATO members will increase d…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations, and the CER’s Sander Tordoir and John Springford discuss green tech industrial policy and ‘de-risking’ trade with China. They discuss the growing consensus between Europe and the US on China, as well as the ‘risks of de-risking’ – how c…

In this week’s episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, host Octavia Hughes speaks to the head of our Brussels office, Camino Mortera-Martínez. They discuss the results of the Spanish local and regional elections and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's decision to call a snap election. Camino explains what is at stake for Spain and Sánchez, in…

In this week’s episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, we answer questions you have sent to us. Host Octavia Hughes speaks to our director Charles Grant, director of foreign policy Ian Bond, and senior fellow Luigi Scazzieri. We discuss the likelihood of a Kılıçdaroğlu victory in Turkey's presidential run-off, arguments for and against F…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Senem Aydin Düzgit, Professor of International Relations at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Sabancı University and Senior Scholar and Research and Academic Affairs Coordinator at the Istanbul Policy Center, and Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow at the CER, join host Octavia Hughes …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Ian Bond, director of foreign policy, joins host and head of the CER’s Brussels office, Camino Mortera-Martinez, to discuss the EU's elusive China policy. They talk about the lack of consensus among EU member-states on an effective China policy and explain why Brussel's stance on China is different…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Sander Tordoir, senior economist at the CER, joins host Octavia Hughes to discuss the EU's fiscal rules ahead of the release of his policy brief on the same subject next week. Sander explains why EU countries must have public finances that are largely aligned and the difficulties the European Commi…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Helmi Pillai, our (2022-23) Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow, joins our director of foreign policy, Ian Bond, to discuss hybrid threats ahead of the release of her paper on the same topic. They consider the often-disputed definitions of 'hybrid threats' and 'critical infrastructure' and the evolving s…

In this week's episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, our director Charles Grant is joined by Catherine Barnard, Professor of EU Law and Employment Law at the University of Cambridge and Deputy Director of UK in a Changing Europe, to discuss the recently agreed Windsor Framework. Together, they delve into how the new framework modifies …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, Dr Olesya Khromeychuk, historian, writer, and director of the Ukrainian Institute London and Sir Richard Shirreff, former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, join our director of foreign policy, Ian Bond, to discuss the Ukraine-Russia war. They consider how to avoid 'Ukraine fatigue' i…

In this week’s episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, we answer questions you have sent to us. Clara Marina O’Donnell fellow Helmi Pillai speaks to the head of our Brussels office Camino Mortera-Martinez and senior fellows Zach Meyers and Luigi Scazzieri. They discuss the EU’s response to the Inflation Reduction Act, Brexit’s impact on …

In this week's episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, the CER's deputy director John Springford and professor at King's College London Jonathan Portes discuss their report 'Early impacts of the post-Brexit immigration system on the UK labour market'. The report estimates that Brexit has led to a net shortfall of 330,000 workers in the U…

In this week’s episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast Helmi Pillai interviews John Springford about his most recent cost of Brexit analysis. John shares his estimate of the damage Brexit caused to the British economy in 2022 and explains the reasons for the negative impact. John also discusses the methodology behind his findings and resp…

In this year’s final episode of the Centre for European Reform podcast, our researchers unpack the most significant event of the past year, Russia’s war on Ukraine. The CER’s experts analyse the impact of the war thus far and share their predictions for 2023. Ian Bond, director of foreign policy, evaluates Russia and Ukraine’s performance in the wa…

In this week’s episode of the CER podcast, Camino Mortera-Martinez, head of our Brussels office, and Sander Tordoir, senior economist at the CER, explain the escalating conflict between Hungary and the EU. They discuss the EU’s strategies for tackling democratic backsliding and corruption in Hungary, and cast light on the politics and economics of …

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, John Springford, our deputy director, and Sander Tordoir, senior economist at the CER, discuss the EU’s fiscal rules. They consider why the rules matter, what their shortcomings are, and weigh up the European Commission’s proposal for tweaking the current fiscal rulebook.Produced by Helmi Pillai an…

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, Peter Foster, public policy editor at the Financial Times and author of the FT ‘Britain after Brexit’ newsletter, joins our director Charles Grant to consider the prospects for repairing UK-EU relations under new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. They consider the scope for compromise on both sid…

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, CER media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi puts our listeners' questions to senior research fellows, Elisabetta Cornago and Zach Meyers, and head of our Brussels office, Camino Mortera-Martínez. They discuss how EU policy-makers are responding to the energy crisis, why the UK should tread carefully in bur…

Emmanuel Macron set out his vision for a 'European Political Community' in a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on May 9th. In this Centre for European Reform podcast, head of our Brussels office, Camino Mortera-Martinez, speaks to our director, Charles Grant, about the potential shape of this new European organisation, the purpose it …

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, Hilary Benn, Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds Central and Co-Convenor of the UK Trade and Business Commission, joins our director, Charles Grant, to discuss the stalemate between the UK and the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol. They consider how negotiations ground to a standstill, the re…

In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, our experts answered your questions. Our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi spoke to CER foreign policy director, Ian Bond, senior research fellow, Zach Meyers, and our deputy director, John Springford. They considered how Europe should protect its interests while maintaining a strong trading relation…

In this week’s CER podcast, Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of The Spectator, joins our director, Charles Grant. They consider the UK Conservative party leadership contest, where party members have to choose between Rishi Sunak, the former chancellor, and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. Charles and Isabel consider how each candidate’s government…

In this new Centre for European Reform podcast, we looked ahead to Italy's autumn elections. Our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi spoke to Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow at the CER, about Mario Draghi’s resignation as Italian Prime Minister; the hard-right firebrand Giorgia Meloni, who’s tipped to replace him; and what a (probable) right-wi…

*Running order below*In this week’s Centre for European Reform podcast, our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi put our listeners’ questions to the CER’s experts. She spoke to senior research fellows Zach Meyers, Luigi Scazzieri and Elisabetta Cornago, and the CER’s foreign policy director, Ian Bond. They discussed what central bank digital currencies …

This is an audio recording from the Centre for European Reform's 24th birthday reception, which we celebrated last night at the Irish Embassy in London. Irish Ambassador to the UK, Adrian O'Neill, and our Director, Charles Grant, gave opening remarks, before Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the UK Labour Party, gave a keynote speech on Labour's plans fo…

In this week's CER podcast, our foreign policy director Ian Bond spoke to three senior figures involved in Ukraine's application for EU membership: Natalie Forsyuk, General-Director of Ukraine's Governmental Office on European Integration & NATO; Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU; …

In this week's Centre for European Reform podcast, we considered the impact that Brexit has had on the UK economy so far. Our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi spoke to two economists: Thomas Sampson of the London School of Economics, and John Springford, the CER's deputy director. They discussed and compared their findings on how Brexit has affected…

In late March, the EU agreed upon two big new pieces of legislation for regulating big tech and social media: the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA). In this week’s CER podcast, our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi speaks to senior research fellow Zach Meyers about the motivations behind the new laws, the companies that will be…

In this week’s CER podcast, we discussed Macron’s re-election as French President.We strung together the audio from an event that we held just after the elections. Pascal Lamy of the Paris Peace Forum, journalist and broadcaster Christine Ockrent and the Atlantic Council’s Ben Haddad joined us to consider France’s domestic political landscape, Macr…

In this week's CER podcast, our 2021-22 Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow Megan Ferrando spoke to Malak Altaeb, an environmental consultant and writer based in Paris. Megan recently published a CER paper about water insecurity in the Maghreb, and in this episode with Malak, takes a close look at the situation in Libya in particular. They discuss how th…

In this week’s CER podcast, we answered your questions about EU policy and geopolitics.Our media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi was joined by senior research fellow Elisabetta Cornago, head of our Brussels office Camino Mortera-Martínez, and CER foreign policy director Ian Bond. They discussed the EU's attempts to free itself of its dependency on Russia…

In this week’s CER podcast, head of our Brussels office Camino Mortera-Martínez speaks to John Morijn, professor of law and politics at the University of Groningen. They discuss the European Court of Justice’s ruling of February 16th, which dismissed Hungary and Poland’s challenges to the conditionality mechanism, a law that allows the EU to stop f…

In this week's CER podcast on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, our foreign policy director Ian Bond is joined by Marie Dumoulin, a former French diplomat who now heads the Wider Europe programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, and our former colleague Khrystyna Parandii, a political analyst in Kyiv and a Ukrainian citizen, who was the CER's…

This week’s CER podcast features speakers from our recent economics conference on ‘The politics of climate change’ at Ditchley Park.Panellists included Suzi Kerr of the Environmental Defence Fund, the European Commission’s Arianna Vanini, Beata Javorcik of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank’s Stéphane Hallegate,…