Aslak Berg
@aslak.bsky.social
Trade, public policy, economics, research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, formerly with the Norwegian civil service and EFTA
If I could have one wish granted for global politics it would be to see the abandonment of empty statements, symbolic procedural actions and summits that produce nothing of substance. No wonder people lose faith in the system: it often does nothing of value.
November 21, 2025 at 9:58 AM
If I could have one wish granted for global politics it would be to see the abandonment of empty statements, symbolic procedural actions and summits that produce nothing of substance. No wonder people lose faith in the system: it often does nothing of value.
Sometimes you’re just wandering around London and you come across relics and ghosts of the distant past
November 19, 2025 at 9:06 AM
Sometimes you’re just wandering around London and you come across relics and ghosts of the distant past
UK politics is chronically prone to coming up with an extraordinary range of ideas with little capacity to prune out the bad ones and implement the good ones. It's a governance problem, more than anything. UK governments should strive to do less, but better.
Friends fear he's going to talk about Alan Manning's book again: the thing that the Johnson government did is make loads of tweaks to the immigration system all in one go and then go 'wow, we didn't mean to do that'. And now the Starmer government has done the same thing.
Net migration now estimated to have fallen from 944,000 to 345,000 in Dec ‘24.
Some projections even suggest David Cameron’s old target of “tens of thousands” could be met. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
Some projections even suggest David Cameron’s old target of “tens of thousands” could be met. ukandeu.ac.uk/the-coming-c...
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
UK politics is chronically prone to coming up with an extraordinary range of ideas with little capacity to prune out the bad ones and implement the good ones. It's a governance problem, more than anything. UK governments should strive to do less, but better.
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Trump’s #trade policy has attracted much of the attention – but in the longer term it is Chinese trade policy that poses a larger challenge to Europe. 🇪🇺 🇺🇸 🇨🇳
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @aslak.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/OPBZCaY
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @aslak.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/OPBZCaY
November 14, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Trump’s #trade policy has attracted much of the attention – but in the longer term it is Chinese trade policy that poses a larger challenge to Europe. 🇪🇺 🇺🇸 🇨🇳
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @aslak.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/OPBZCaY
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @aslak.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/OPBZCaY
Reposted by Aslak Berg
The far right is stronger than ever in the European Parliament. And climate policy has become a testing ground for its influence.
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/7rqeFaO
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/7rqeFaO
November 14, 2025 at 1:00 PM
The far right is stronger than ever in the European Parliament. And climate policy has become a testing ground for its influence.
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/7rqeFaO
New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social insight by @zecsaky.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/7rqeFaO
Useful reminder from Agathe that Trump's negotiators are not to be dismissed or underestimated
The new US trade deals with Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia & Thailand make for a compelling read - for @foreignpolicy.com I outline how, with these accords, Trump could force partners to invest in the US, give Washington a say over domestic affairs and decouple from China
Why Did Asian Countries Give Trump So Much on Trade?
The new deals contain unusual concessions that could change the flow of goods in Asia.
foreignpolicy.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Useful reminder from Agathe that Trump's negotiators are not to be dismissed or underestimated
Reposted by Aslak Berg
A passage that does indeed read rather differently to the "indivisibility of the internal market" positions of the past
I did not have insider knowledge. I have just been around Brussels negotiations for a long time...
EU agrees a mandate for UK negotiations as I predicted. With the bonus that the future path becomes clearer - if you pay you can have more. www.politico.eu/article/uk-s...
EU agrees a mandate for UK negotiations as I predicted. With the bonus that the future path becomes clearer - if you pay you can have more. www.politico.eu/article/uk-s...
November 12, 2025 at 8:40 PM
A passage that does indeed read rather differently to the "indivisibility of the internal market" positions of the past
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Great to see the report from the HoL European Affairs Committee inquiry into the UK-EU reset has been published. I - and lots of my @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social colleagues as I've just realised - give oral evidence to the inquiry @aslak.bsky.social @antonspisak.bsky.social.
It’s out! Here’s @LordsEUCom Report ‘Unfinished Business: resetting the UK- EU relationship’. The Gov’t have made a strong start, esp on security and defence, but there’s still much to do in turning aspirations and goodwill into workable agreements 1/8
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5901/ld...
publications.parliament.uk
November 12, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Great to see the report from the HoL European Affairs Committee inquiry into the UK-EU reset has been published. I - and lots of my @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social colleagues as I've just realised - give oral evidence to the inquiry @aslak.bsky.social @antonspisak.bsky.social.
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Very interesting paper. Confirms what we knew from cross-country studies - large, rapid effects. The really interesting part is the firm-level analysis, which shows similar, if somewhat lower, magnitudes.
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
November 10, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Very interesting paper. Confirms what we knew from cross-country studies - large, rapid effects. The really interesting part is the firm-level analysis, which shows similar, if somewhat lower, magnitudes.
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
www.nber.org/papers/w3445...
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Great points from Aslak.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
Last, but not least: there is a future for rules-based trade. But it largely lies with the world outside China and the US. The EU has had significant success agreeing FTAs with Mercosur and Indonesia as welll as real progress in negotiaions with India.
November 10, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Great points from Aslak.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
New FTAs are good. But let’s be clear: the economy outside China and US is too small to absorb EU (net) exports.
If you favour new FTAs but oppose increasing EU internal demand you favour stagnation.
If you favour both, good.
If you oppose both you favour decline.
Reposted by Aslak Berg
"The EU’s past ability to match the US in #trade matters was a function of the US being willing to play by the rules. It relied on the assumption that the two powers would keep trade and security matters in separate silos." mailings.cer.eu/insights/thr...
Three hard lessons for European trade
Global trade policy is now dominated by great power politics, putting Europe under pressure. The EU will have to accommodate the US, confront China and derisk from both.
mailings.cer.eu
November 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
"The EU’s past ability to match the US in #trade matters was a function of the US being willing to play by the rules. It relied on the assumption that the two powers would keep trade and security matters in separate silos." mailings.cer.eu/insights/thr...
It's been a rough year for European trade policy. The deal with the US, disputes with China and an overall sense of a worsening economic climate. My latest piece tries to draw out some lessons for Europe www.cer.eu/insights/thr...
Three hard lessons for European trade
Global trade policy is now dominated by great power politics, putting Europe under pressure. The EU will have to accommodate the US, confront China and derisk from both.
www.cer.eu
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
It's been a rough year for European trade policy. The deal with the US, disputes with China and an overall sense of a worsening economic climate. My latest piece tries to draw out some lessons for Europe www.cer.eu/insights/thr...
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Does the rise of populism have economic roots, and more protectionist and anti-immigration policies help? Quick thread on my latest piece here
buff.ly/O2SoUok
buff.ly/O2SoUok
October 28, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Does the rise of populism have economic roots, and more protectionist and anti-immigration policies help? Quick thread on my latest piece here
buff.ly/O2SoUok
buff.ly/O2SoUok
Reading this history of Gaza and struck by the fact that Britain at the time actually had 38,000 soldiers to place near the Suez Canal
October 19, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Reading this history of Gaza and struck by the fact that Britain at the time actually had 38,000 soldiers to place near the Suez Canal
There's a coherent and well-meaning worldview behind this, but a) no-one in the UK government is able to communicate it and b) it's principles-based rather than outcome-based.
How has the government got itself into the position of standing up for Israeli football hooligans, while criminalising peaceful supporters of Palestine Action?
October 17, 2025 at 9:06 PM
There's a coherent and well-meaning worldview behind this, but a) no-one in the UK government is able to communicate it and b) it's principles-based rather than outcome-based.
This is my biggest struggle when I’m in the US. They generally like their bread either too soft, too sweet or too dense, sometimes all three at once
One thing I am always reminded that Europe does unambiguously better than the US: bread. You can find bread as good as anything in Europe in the states but it’s hard. Every country in continental Europe I’ve ever been to makes high quality bread stupidly cheap and available.
October 17, 2025 at 11:33 AM
This is my biggest struggle when I’m in the US. They generally like their bread either too soft, too sweet or too dense, sometimes all three at once
Reposted by Aslak Berg
Simplifying EU regulation and a harder line on member-states’ gold-plating of EU law would cut compliance costs and boost growth.
New CER/Martens Centre policy brief by @aslak.bsky.social, @elisabettaco.bsky.social, @zach-meyers.bsky.social & @sandertordoir.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/Rb9hOiI
New CER/Martens Centre policy brief by @aslak.bsky.social, @elisabettaco.bsky.social, @zach-meyers.bsky.social & @sandertordoir.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/Rb9hOiI
October 16, 2025 at 8:00 AM
Simplifying EU regulation and a harder line on member-states’ gold-plating of EU law would cut compliance costs and boost growth.
New CER/Martens Centre policy brief by @aslak.bsky.social, @elisabettaco.bsky.social, @zach-meyers.bsky.social & @sandertordoir.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/Rb9hOiI
New CER/Martens Centre policy brief by @aslak.bsky.social, @elisabettaco.bsky.social, @zach-meyers.bsky.social & @sandertordoir.bsky.social
Read here: buff.ly/Rb9hOiI
Who had the bright idea to design the Eurostar waiting area at St Pancras with about a third of the capacity it needs?
October 16, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Who had the bright idea to design the Eurostar waiting area at St Pancras with about a third of the capacity it needs?
Nothing more satisfying than the feeling after a good workout that you weren't really motivated to do at first
October 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Nothing more satisfying than the feeling after a good workout that you weren't really motivated to do at first
Reposted by Aslak Berg
France right now is further proof of my longstanding theory that Italy from the 90's onward was the forerunner for modern politics and the template every other country is emulating, each with its own unique twist and on its own schedule.
October 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
France right now is further proof of my longstanding theory that Italy from the 90's onward was the forerunner for modern politics and the template every other country is emulating, each with its own unique twist and on its own schedule.
When I was younger for the longest time I thought the Israeli parliament was called “the Kness”. The -et suffix is the Norwegian equivalent of “the” for neutral words so Knesset just read intuitively as the Kness for me
October 11, 2025 at 11:16 AM
When I was younger for the longest time I thought the Israeli parliament was called “the Kness”. The -et suffix is the Norwegian equivalent of “the” for neutral words so Knesset just read intuitively as the Kness for me
Reposted by Aslak Berg
L'Italia ancora una volta all'avanguardia! 🇮🇹🇮🇹💪💪🫠
France right now is further proof of my longstanding theory that Italy from the 90's onward was the forerunner for modern politics and the template every other country is emulating, each with its own unique twist and on its own schedule.
October 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
L'Italia ancora una volta all'avanguardia! 🇮🇹🇮🇹💪💪🫠
France right now is further proof of my longstanding theory that Italy from the 90's onward was the forerunner for modern politics and the template every other country is emulating, each with its own unique twist and on its own schedule.
October 10, 2025 at 8:11 PM
France right now is further proof of my longstanding theory that Italy from the 90's onward was the forerunner for modern politics and the template every other country is emulating, each with its own unique twist and on its own schedule.
Told you.
Anyone who knows a little bit about Norway and the Nobel Peace Prize Committee knows Trump has no chance of getting the prize. They're capable of embarrassing mistakes, like giving it to Obama, but they're just not going to give it to Trump.
October 10, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Told you.