Charles Grant joined the financial magazine, Euromoney, in 1981 and then moved to The Economist in 1986, writing from London and Brussels. In 1992 his writing on economic and monetary union won the Adelphi Foundation's Prix Stendhal. In 1996 Charles helped set up the Centre for European Reform (CER), an independent think-tank dedicated to promoting a reform agenda within the European Union. Then in January 1998 he left The Economist to become the first director of the CER.

He is the author of many CER publications, as well as a regular contributor to the Financial Times, The Guardian and many other publications. His main areas of expertise are Russia, European foreign and defence policy, transatlantic relations, China's relations with the West, the future of Europe debate and the euro. More