iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Not that anyone asked me, but I think the proposed Queen Elisabeth Memorial looks rather tasteful and that equestrian statues are for conquerors or those who want to be portrayed as such.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

First week for me after leaving the CER and good to see that nothing important or dramatic is happening that I would have wanted to write about.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Same for the Vox Populi, Vox Dei thing, which in the original context warned about the madness of crowds. But these people go back to the classics for contextless snippets, not any kind of real erudition

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Ah, thank you - this would be a big difference! I like the theory of originalism in principle as it keeps political change with the politicians, but you'd have to stick to it from the start and not go back to it after a century or two

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Doesn't sound awful, but I'm sure I'm not grasping the ramifications!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

For those of us less familiar with US legal history, what would free speech originalism entail?

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

In the end, a lot of the details trade wonks worry a lot about don't matter all that much

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

My take on the Australia deal has mellowed a little in hindsight. Yes, the UK probably gave away more than it needed to, but in the end that was probably in line with the policy preferences of the gov't at the time. And I don't think Australia had much more of value to offer in any case.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Reading the Hobbit for the first time in decades and reminded what an excellent writer Tolkien could be, with long, fluid, vibrant sentences that seem to engage you in conversation. None of these short, bland and limp sentences so fashionable these days - just a joy to read. Merry Christmas!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Celebrating Christmas by fixing a leaky kitchen sink. Pro tip: get one of those silicon trays under your sink to protect from water damage

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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Reflections on the European Council decision to borrow €90 billion and lend it to Ukraine. Tl; dr: Ukraine benefits, but not enough; Putin & Trump will be encouraged; the EU & individual member-states have shown that it’s still too easy to intimidate them. 🧵1/13

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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

The 2025-6 Clara Marina O'Donnell fellow, @thomasmaddock.bsky.social , with his first insight for @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social, on the EU's failed approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict - a topic close to Clara's own heart.

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Lucas Guttenberg @lucasguttenberg.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Often, Berlin is the main veto player when it comes to decisive EU action. But this week, for once, Berlin is a key driver of getting both the reparations loan and Mercosur over the finish line. This time, the EU's ability to act act fully hinges on Rome's and Paris's will to jump.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

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...

cer.eu

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.

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Centre for European Reform @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Europe must boost its productivity through adopting foreign technologies - while also boosting its economic security. Can it manage both at once? New @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social policy brief by @aslak.bsky.social & @zach-meyers.bsky.social Read here: buff.ly/GyzXI4o

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Elisabetta Cornago @elisabettaco.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

The Trump administration's industrial policy U-turn and aggressive trade policy are reshaping global clean tech markets. For EU manufacturers, it's a tale of two shocks: falling US demand + surging Chinese competition. Our new policy brief discusses what's happening and what Europe needs to do 🧵

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Ian Bond @cerianbond.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

When I finished writing this a couple of weeks ago, I didn't expect that the US would set out in its National Security Strategy how it could help Putin achieve his goals.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

-Which case does “ad” take? -..the ablative? -that’s for moving away, with ad you’re…? -moving towards -so it takes which case? -the accusative -so it should be…? -libros! Ad libros! -now write that one hundred times

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Every time I’m in Sweden I’m profoundly disturbed by this book store’s completely ungrammatical name

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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

This is a good paper from @aslak.bsky.social and CER colleagues on aligning productivity and security, particularly on the prioritisation that will be essential in considering dependencies, and the need to continue to be competitive globally. mailings.cer.eu/publications...

mailings.cer.eu

Resilient growth: Aligning productivity and security

The European Competitiveness Fund could be a powerful tool to improve the EU's economic security. But the proposal needs reform to avoid pitting security and growth against each other.

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Centre for European Reform @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

📅 JOIN US - 10/12/25: @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social /Swedish Enterprise discussion on 'Resilient Growth: Aligning Productivity and Security' with @aslak.bsky.social, @zach-meyers.bsky.social, Lotta Nymann-Lindegren, Maive Rute & Yannick Treige Email: brussels@cer.eu for info and registration

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Yes, but political elites obviously matter a lot!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

My sense is that CU is unworkable politically for the UK. But as an unstable equilibrium it could be a way back into the EU. Far from the optimal process for it of course and it could also just end up collapsing

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Do check out our new report - and come join us in Brussels for a round table discussion on it on Wednesday!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

In isolation, yes.I think the political and practical barriers are too high, but I’d love to see your argument made in full !

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David Henig @davidheniguk.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

There's something here about the distance between politics and experts, because it isn't as if any of us are hard to find to say this Labour Customs Union chatter is going nowhere

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Sam: technically it wouldn’t work because of X, Y, Z David: the EU doesn’t really want it and would in any case extract a price Me: it wouldn’t work politically for the UK Different emphases, same conclusion

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Is there a trade expert out there arguing for a UK-EU customs union? I think it’s fair to say that @davidheniguk.bsky.social @samuelmarclowe.bsky.social and myself are hardly Euroskeptics, and while we emphasise different things in talking about a CU the conclusion is unanimous.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

I'm reminded a little of the discussion on SPS, where there were all sorts of partial solutions discussed while it was clear to me that only a full-fat alignment would solve the issues they wanted solved. But that is hard enough to negotiate for SPS, I don't think a full-fat CU is feasible.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

In any case, do read the whole thing: mostfavourednation.substack.com/p/customs-un...

mostfavourednation.substack.com

Customs Union

What do you know? You know ...

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

A lot of this comes down to UK politicians wanting to negate the consequences of Brexit without negating Brexit itself. But no, you can't have your cake and eat it too - and I don't think a very overt dependency on EU policy with no say is sustainable for the UK.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Even a Turkish-type partial CU would de facto tie the UK very close to EU commercial policy without much say. And a completely integrated customs union is difficult to sustain because of the completely loss of sovereignty in this area it would entail.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

And much depends on what kind of customs union we're talking about. A Turkey-style CU wouldn't solve all the problems people in the UK want to address for reasons Sam explains well. And a CU that did solve all those problems is a) probably not on offer b) would require a much tighter integration

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

The difficulty for Turkey in negotiating FTA is that the concessions have already been negotiated by the EU and they can't offer much to countries the EU doesn't have an FTA with. The EU-Turkey CU doesn't cover basic agricultural goods, but beyond those goods the scope for negotiation is limited

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

@samuelmarclowe.bsky.social has a good discussion on customs unions in his newsletter. Just a couple points: the below is true, but I don't think it matters all that much - since if the UK wanted to impose significantly higher tariffs than the EU, it would presumably to reroute trade through the EU.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

As someone whose name fall into that category, a bit of grace here on both sides is needed.. It's nice when people make an effort, but I don't expect perfection and I certainly don't expect monolingual anglophones to use sounds that don't exist in English. Any reasonable good faith effort will do!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Come join us in Brussels next week!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Can't even do corruption properly anymore, we're truly a has-been continent

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Yes, but if we're over capacity (not there yet!) you may not be prioritised

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Come join us in Brussels next week!

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Norway mentioned 🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Exxon-Mobil (current market cap): $488B Norway GDP (2025 est): $517B Dispersed by TARP to rescue the financial system (adjusted for inflation): $667B Saudi Arabia GDP (2025 est): $1268B Amount OpenAI is on the hook for that’ll ruin companies’ balance sheets if OpenAI can’t make good: $1400B

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

That's why it's so hard to see a way out of this - for the UK, Europe, and most of the world, really. Aging is the most defining feature of the 21st century.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Everyone is unhappy, directly or indirectly, with the fact that everyone else didn't get enough kids to support the elderly in the way and at the cost we expect. And politics gets the blame.

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Centre for European Reform @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

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John Springford @johnspringford.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

On customs unions and sovereignty. I'd add that we're in new era of weaponised trade.

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Aslak Berg @aslak.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

You may very well be right about these things, but have you considered the outrageous fact that I can't afford the lifestyle of the rich and famous on instagram?

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Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Wonderful write-up by @erikfossingnielsen.bsky.social on a fascinating fiery debate at CERs annual economics conference this weekend (so fast Erik!) Should Europe use incentives to pull some of our capital exports back home rather than fund Americas deficits? independenteconomics.substack.com

independenteconomics.substack.com

Sunday Wrap by Erik F. Nielsen | IndependentEconomics | Substack

I write about economics, policies and markets - trying to connect the dots. Click to read Sunday Wrap by Erik F. Nielsen, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

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