TOK FM: Wybory parlamentarne w Wielkiej Brytanii - Partia Konserwatywna bliska zwycięstwa?
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TOK FM: Wybory parlamentarne w Wielkiej Brytanii - Partia Konserwatywna bliska zwycięstwa?
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Deutsche Welle: Ten problem będzie największą kością niezgody w negocjacjach z Brukselą na temat praw Polaków mieszkających w Wielkiej Brytanii
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to Deursche Welle Poliski about the rights of Poles living in Great Britain.
09 June 2017
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BBC Radio 4: Germany - Anxious Giant
Sophia Besch talks to Radio 4 about the standing of the German army in Germany and its relationship with the public (from 02.30).
12 June 2017
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PBS Newshour: John Springford
John Springford, director of research at the CER, talks to PBS Newshour about the UK election result and what this means for Brexit negotiations with the EU.
09 June 2017
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TOK FM: Brytyjska kampania wyborcza z brexitem w tle
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TOK FM about the forthcoming UK elections and Brexit.
17 May 2017
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CER podcast: Why the UK voted to leave, and lessons for the EU 27
John Springford talks to Matthew Goodwin, Paul Whiteley and Florence Faucher on the reasons the UK voted to leave, how these political trends played out in the French elections, and lessons for the EU 27.
23 May 2017
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CER podcast: Why no deal is not better than a bad deal
Simon Tilford and John Springford lay out in detail how leaving the EU without a deal would damage the British economy.
05 June 2017
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#AskCER: Is the new European defence fund a game-changer for EU defence?
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#AskCER: Is the new European defence fund a game-changer for EU defence?
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The European Commission today launched the European Defence Fund: for the first time, EU budget money will be used to strengthen EU defence. The member-states do not spend enough on defence, and procurement is inefficient: governments buy 80 per cent of their equipment from companies based in their own countries. And their spending on defence R&D is at its lowest level in a decade. The Commission plans to use the EU budget to incentivise member-states to spend more while also working together.
The European Defence Fund consists of three elements.
First, from 2020 the Commission wants to spend €500 million a year on defence research. That will make EU investment larger than that of most individual member-states. Until then, the Commission plans to spend a total of €90 million over the next three years. It has allocated €25 million for 2017 already. Crucially, only collaborative projects that involve at least three member-states will be eligible to receive EU research funding.
Second, the Commission aims to provide €500 million from 2019, rising to €1 billion from 2020, in co-financing for new military prototypes, taking on 20 per cent of the member-states’ financial burden in the development phase. Member-states must commit to procuring the resulting system at the end of the project. Only projects involving at least three companies from at least two member-states will be eligible. The Commission hopes that if it provides seed money, that will incentivise member-states to invest larger sums: Commission Vice-President Katainen said today that he expects each euro of EU investment to bring in five euros from national governments for new joint projects
The third element of the Defence Fund has no direct budgetary implications, but rather aims to provide practical legal and financial advice to help countries jointly procure capabilities.
The European Defence Fund is just one initiative of many the EU is pursuing to strengthen its common defence policy. The Commission is also offering countries that in the future might participate in permanent structured co-operation (PESCO – a kind of ‘defence eurozone’ that allows a subset of the EU’s 27 members to work together more closely) a 10 per cent bonus on EU co-financing of joint capabilities.
What does this mean for NATO? The EU is keen to stress that these initiatives do not undermine or duplicate NATO. NATO certainly benefits from a stronger European defence industry and more European defence spending. But the two organisations will have to co-ordinate their defence planning efforts. Recent developments are promising: later this week a joint implementation report on NATO-EU co-operation will be published.
Finally, what does this fund mean for the UK? Only member-states have access to EU budget funding. Unless Britain can negotiate a special status post-Brexit, UK defence industries will miss out on resources and might not be eligible to participate in future EU defence capability projects. Given the size and sophistication of the UK defence sector, that would be a loss for both sides.
As always, the success of the Commission’s initiatives ultimately depends on the political will of member-states to follow up. But for the first time in the defence field the Commission has proposed to put its money where its mouth is.
Sophia Besch is a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
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#AskCER: Is the new European defence fund a game-changer for EU defence?
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#AskCER: Is the new European defence fund a game-changer for EU defence? Sophia Besch answers
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anna@cer.org.uk
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The European Commission today launched the European Defence Fund: for the first time, EU budget money will be used to strengthen EU defence. The member-states do not spend enough on defence, and procurement is inefficient: governments buy 80 per cent of their equipment from companies based in their own countries. And their spending on defence R&D is at its lowest level in a decade. The Commission plans to use the EU budget to incentivise member-states to spend more while also working together.
The European Defence Fund consists of three elements.
First, from 2020 the Commission wants to spend €500 million a year on defence research. That will make EU investment larger than that of most individual member-states. Until then, the Commission plans to spend a total of €90 million over the next three years. It has allocated €25 million for 2017 already. Crucially, only collaborative projects that involve at least three member-states will be eligible to receive EU research funding.
Second, the Commission aims to provide €500 million from 2019, rising to €1 billion from 2020, in co-financing for new military prototypes, taking on 20 per cent of the member-states’ financial burden in the development phase. Member-states must commit to procuring the resulting system at the end of the project. Only projects involving at least three companies from at least two member-states will be eligible. The Commission hopes that if it provides seed money, that will incentivise member-states to invest larger sums: Commission Vice-President Katainen said today that he expects each euro of EU investment to bring in five euros from national governments for new joint projects
The third element of the Defence Fund has no direct budgetary implications, but rather aims to provide practical legal and financial advice to help countries jointly procure capabilities.
The European Defence Fund is just one initiative of many the EU is pursuing to strengthen its common defence policy. The Commission is also offering countries that in the future might participate in permanent structured co-operation (PESCO – a kind of ‘defence eurozone’ that allows a subset of the EU’s 27 members to work together more closely) a 10 per cent bonus on EU co-financing of joint capabilities.
What does this mean for NATO? The EU is keen to stress that these initiatives do not undermine or duplicate NATO. NATO certainly benefits from a stronger European defence industry and more European defence spending. But the two organisations will have to co-ordinate their defence planning efforts. Recent developments are promising: later this week a joint implementation report on NATO-EU co-operation will be published.
Finally, what does this fund mean for the UK? Only member-states have access to EU budget funding. Unless Britain can negotiate a special status post-Brexit, UK defence industries will miss out on resources and might not be eligible to participate in future EU defence capability projects. Given the size and sophistication of the UK defence sector, that would be a loss for both sides.
As always, the success of the Commission’s initiatives ultimately depends on the political will of member-states to follow up. But for the first time in the defence field the Commission has proposed to put its money where its mouth is.
Sophia Besch is a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.
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mailing@cer.org.uk
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TVN 24 BIS: Brytyjczycy głosują w wyborach. Co się zmieni?
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to TVN 24 Bis about the UK elections and Brexit.
08 June 2017
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TOK FM: Wybory parlamentarne w Wielkiej Brytanii - Partia Konserwatywna bliska zwycięstwa?
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Deutsche Welle: Ten problem będzie największą kością niezgody w negocjacjach z Brukselą na temat praw Polaków mieszkających w Wielkiej Brytanii
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to Deursche Welle Poliski about the rights of Poles living in Great Britain.
09 June 2017
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BBC Radio 4: Germany - Anxious Giant
Sophia Besch talks to Radio 4 about the standing of the German army in Germany and its relationship with the public (from 02.30).
12 June 2017
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PBS Newshour: John Springford
John Springford, director of research at the CER, talks to PBS Newshour about the UK election result and what this means for Brexit negotiations with the EU.
09 June 2017
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Euronews: Falling pound, border fears and a frightened workforce
Charles Grant speaks to Sophie Claudet of Euronews on the new proposal allowing EU citizens that have been living in the UK for five years to stay (from 08.45).
Charles Grant, thanks for being with us. Now we’ve seen that Theresa May has put a new proposal on the table allowing EU citizens that have been living in the UK for five years to stay. Does it mean she is softening her stance somehow?
Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform
Her line is for a hard Brexit. The particular proposals she’s made on the rights of EU citizens in Britain were to be expected, they were roughly in line with what the EU thought would happen. It’s not enough for the EU, but as Angela Merkel said, it is a start and I think that they will negotiate on that basis. The gap between the two sides is not a million miles and I do think this will be one of the easier issues to resolve because on both sides, for the three million EU citizens living in Britain and the one or two million Brits living in the EU, there are such strong reasons to get the deal done, to reassure these people who are very, very nervous about their futures. So I would predict in a month or two there will be some resolution.
Sophie Claudet
Now, how about the UK’s grim looking economic forecast?
Charles Grant
The impact of the 15 percent devaluation of the pound is pushing inflation up, foreign investment is diminishing somewhat, there has been a lot of consumption driven by people spending but it cannot go on forever, and I think we are now expecting an economic downturn. And in particular, as the details emerge in the Brexit negotiations of the kind of relationship that we will have in future with the EU, less closely tied economically in the past, business confidence will suffer, that will affect consumer confidence, and I think there is a downturn coming. To what extent that leads public opinion to regret the decision to leave the EU is an open question.
Sophie Claudet
How do you see trade flows evolving between the EU and the UK and are we heading towards a hard or a soft Brexit?
Charles Grant
I think certainly we are heading for a fairly hard Brexit, but the general election result which has weakened Mrs May and strengthened the more moderate forces in parliament means it will be softer and more moderate than that she initially envisaged. We will certainly have fairly modest restrictions on immigration, we may be less dogmatic in rejecting a role for the European Court of Justice and we may perhaps stay in the EU custom’s union.”
Sophie Claudet
We’ve seen that Theresa May has offered more than one billion euros to Northern Ireland as part of her deal with the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party). Could separatists still push for reigniting Ireland?
Charles Grant
Because the DUP, which is one strong community in Northern Ireland, is now aligned with the British government, how can the British government play the role of being a neutral arbiter in the peace process in Northern Ireland which is still a problem, there are still many difficult issues to overcome in Northern Ireland. So it may perhaps strengthen feeling amongst the Catholics that staying in the UK is a bad deal, that they are not being well treated, that their enemies in the DUP are close to the British government now, so it could perhaps ignite some nationalist feeling. But as far as I can see, most people in the north of Ireland and indeed most people in the south, do not actually want a united Ireland at the moment. That would be a step too far for most of them and just too complicated at the current time.
Sophie Claudet
Do you think that as far as Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are concerned, are we heading for a hard border or something in between?
Grant: If Britain leaves the EU customs union there will have to be customs controls on the borders between the EU and the UK, including between the north of Ireland and the south of Ireland, borders to check for duties being paid, for forms being filled in, for rules of origin to be respected.
Sophie Claudet
Do you think in the particular context of Ireland it could lead to renewed tension or even violence?
Charles Grant
Possibly yes, because if you have these customs controls going back to the border that will be a provocation to the extreme nationalists who will want a united Ireland. And if the border posts go up, I know there is a fear in Dublin that terrorists could burn them down or blow them up, which is a very strong reason not to have border posts, which is another reason for Britain to stay in a customs union with the EU. My friends in Dublin are very worried about Britain leaving the customs union because of the impact it could have on the peace process in Northern Ireland.
23 June 2017
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CER podcast: Security co-operation after Brexit
Sophia Besch talks to Camino Mortera-Martinez about how to keep Britain plugged into Europol and European criminal databases.
30 June 2017
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Tok FM: Rola instytucji europejskich w negocjacjach z Wielką Brytanią
Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska talks to Tok FM about her lateste CER publication 'Brexit maze: The role of EU institutions in the negotiations'.
06 July 2017
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BBC Radio World at One: EU first
Simon Tilford speaks to 'The World at One' about Emmanuel Macron and his priorities (from 15:27mins).
14 July 2017
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CER podcast: Brexit negotiations: Players and process on the EU side
Sophia Besch talks to Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska about the role of the European Commission, the member-states, the European Parliament and the ECJ in the Brexit talks.
You can read more on the role of the EU institutions in the Brexit negotiations in Agata's new CER policy brief, Brexit maze: The role of EU institutions in the negotiations.
17 July 2017
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