Centre For European Reform

For our new ‘Ask CER’ podcast, we asked listeners to write in with whatever they wanted to know about the EU, Britain and the world, so that our experts could do their best to answer. In the first episode of the series, CER media co-ordinator Rosie Giorgi is joined by our director, Charles Grant, senior research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez and research fellow Zach Meyers. Charles, Camino and Zach answer your questions on European integration and defence, the EU’s challenge in upholding the rule of law and what Brexit means for UK financial services and payments regulations. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's podcast, CER research fellow Luigi Scazzieri speaks to Claudia Major, head of International Security at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), and Sophia Besch, CER senior research fellow. They discuss the forthcoming federal election and its implications for German foreign, security and defence policy, including Germany's relationship with the US and China. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

The attempted coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 failed, but today’s Russian regime owes more to the plotters than their democratic opponents. In this CER podcast episode, Ian Bond, our director of foreign policy, speaks to Georgetown University's Angela Stent and Igor Yurgens of Moscow's Institute for Contemporary Development, to discuss the lessons the West should draw from the event. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

For this week's podcast episode, we have teamed up with the Open Society European Policy Institute (OSEPI). One of our senior research fellows, Camino Mortera-Martinez, recently published a paper about how the EU can fight corruption and uphold the rule of law within its borders. We held an event last month to mark the launch of Camino's report, where Katalin Cseh MEP, Carl Dolan of OSEPI and Transparency International's Michiel van Hulten joined us to discuss how the pandemic has changed the nature of corruption within the EU, and what the EU can do to fight it more generally. In the first half of this podcast, Camino considers what the speakers said at the event and then in the second half Carl joins her for a discussion. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

Last week the European Commission presented its Fit for 55 policy package, setting out its new policies and the reforms it will undertake to meet the EU's 2030 climate goals. These include the reform and expansion of the emissions trading scheme, the creation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism, the revision of renewable energy and energy efficiency directives and the tightening of vehicle emissions standards. In this week's CER podcast, senior research fellow Sam Lowe speaks to our research fellow Elisabetta Cornago, who shares her thoughts on what Fit for 55 could mean for EU and international climate action going forward. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's podcast, our director of foreign policy Ian Bond speaks to CER research fellow Luigi Scazzieri and Georgina Wright of the Institut Montaigne in Paris. Luigi recently published a paper on EU-UK diplomatic co-operation, and in this episode he, Georgina and Ian consider the ways in which both parties can continue to work together in foreign and security policy, in the absence of a formal agreement. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

This week European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans spoke at a CER event on the EU’s new carbon border adjustment mechanism, the Commission’s plans for reform of the emissions trading scheme, and prospects for COP26. In this CER podcast episode, we provide you with an edited version of his remarks, with commentary from the CER’s John Springford and Elisabetta Cornago. They discuss how the reforms might work and the stumbling blocks the Commission faces. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

This week's CER podcast looks ahead to Joe Biden's trip to Europe, where he will meet Boris Johnson and the Queen, before taking part in the G7, NATO and EU-US summits and later meeting Vladimir Putin. Our director of foreign policy Ian Bond speaks to Rosa Balfour, director of Carnegie Europe, and Andrea Kendall-Taylor, senior fellow and director of the transatlantic security program at the Center for a New American Security, to discuss the prospects for the transatlantic relationship under the Biden administration. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

Political repression in Belarus has been evident for many years, with opposition leaders disappearing in the late 1990s and many other government critics being persecuted or detained since then; the brutal suppression of popular protests last summer after President Alexander Lukashenko's improbable re-election; and most recently, the forced diversion and landing of a plane travelling from Athens to Vilnius, which carried the Belarusian journalist and telegram blogger Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, who have subsequently been arrested. In this week's CER podcast, our director of foreign policy, Ian Bond, speaks to Katia Glod, non-resident fellow at Washington's Centre for European Analysis, about the latest wave of repression and what the West can do to help. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's CER podcast, Sam Lowe speaks our new research fellow, Elisabetta Cornago, who is based in Brussels and joins us having previously worked at the OECD and the International Energy Agency. They discuss her areas of expertise (energy and climate policy from an economics perspective), her recent CER publication on Europe's attempts to decarbonise road transport and how this could be possible in practice without causing socio-political backlash. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's CER podcast, Camino Mortera-Martínez chats to our new research fellow Zach Meyers. Zach joins Camino from London to discuss one of Europe’s hottest topics: what to do with Big Tech. Zach also talks about his background as a competition lawyer with a focus on regulated markets, why he joined the CER and what he will be working on in the next few months (scoop: a lot of digital). Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

Seven years after Russia illegally annexed Crimea, conflict between Russia and Ukraine has resurged, with Putin deploying Russian regular forces along Ukraine's eastern border. In this podcast episode, the CER's director Charles Grant speaks to Ian Bond, our director of foreign policy, and Orysia Lutsevych, research fellow and manager of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, about what Putin's endgame could be and how Ukraine and its Western allies should respond. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's CER podcast, Ian Bond, our Director of Foreign Policy, speaks to Abdoul Salam Bello, Alternate Executive Director at the World Bank and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Africa Centre, and our 2020-21 Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow, Katherine Pye about the situation in the Sahel region of Africa. Katherine recently published a CER policy brief, 'The Sahel: Europe's forever war?', which considered the escalating conflict there and Europe's involvement in it. This podcast episode expands on her paper, and she and Abdoul Salam discuss the issues driving the various conflicts and what national and global institutions can do to address them. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's CER podcast, our deputy director John Springford speaks to Jonathan Portes, Professor of Economics at King's College London and senior fellow at UK in a Changing Europe. They discuss the links between pre-COVID austerity and the UK's poor pandemic outcomes, the outlook for recovery and the future of migration now that the UK has left the EU. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's podcast episode, our deputy director John Springford speaks to Tomáš Valášek, Member of Slovak Parliament and former CER foreign policy director, who recently resigned from his position as chair of the European affairs committee over Bratislava’s decision to purchase the Russian Sputnik vaccine. Our senior research fellow Camino Mortera-Martínez and chief economist Christian Odendahl bring their views from EU capitals. They discuss the EU's shortcomings in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine, and the impact this is having on European solidarity and domestic politics in Slovakia, Spain and beyond. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In the latest CER podcast, our Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow Katherine Pye speaks to Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and Special Advisor to EU High Representative Josep Borrell, and our research fellow Luigi Scazzieri. They discuss what Italy's new government, led by Mario Draghi, means for Italy and Europe. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In the latest CER podcast episode, our chief economist Christian Odendahl is joined by Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, chief economist at the French Treasury, and our deputy director John Springford. They discuss the outlook for Europe's recovery and whether the EU recovery fund will stop it from petering out. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In this week's podcast episode, the CER's chief economist Christian Odendahl speaks to Laura Krause, Germany director of the social research start-up More in Common, as well as Sophia Besch, a senior research fellow at the CER. They discuss the recent election of new CDU party leader Armin Laschet and the forthcoming federal election in September, as well as what both events could have in store for German domestic and foreign policy in the future. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

In the first CER podcast of 2021, CER Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow Katherine Pye speaks to the CER's director Charles Grant, senior research fellow and trade expert Sam Lowe and RUSI chair David Lidington. They discuss the substance of the UK-EU TCA which was concluded on Christmas Eve, what we can expect from the future UK-EU relationship. Music by Edward Hipkins Produced by Rosie Giorgi

As 2020 draws to a close, the CER's director Charles Grant, chief economist Christian Odendahl and senior research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez look back at the year from their respective vantage points in London, Berlin and Brussels. They discuss the biggest events of the year such as the pandemic and recovery fund, respect for the rule of law within the EU and the Brexit process. They also look ahead to the forthcoming year, discussing Angela Merkel's possible successors, the transatlantic relationship and China. Produced by Rosie Giorgi Music by Edward Hipkins